The Future Belongs to Those Who Believe
by OerbaKatMieke
Summary: The l'Cie always thought that they were chosen to complete their own Focus. What happens when they realize they must help others achieve theirs as well? A collaboration by OerbaKatMieke and dattebayo1213. Spoilers, AU, slightly OOC.
1. Chapter 1: A Hero's Charge

Do you remember the time we went to that alternate world Fang?

Hrm? Oh yeah, sure do Vanille.

I wonder...do you think the others remember?

...I doubt it.

Oh...maybe...we should tell the story?

...Why the sudden pondering Vanille?

...So much has changed since then and I--I...I was thinking about him and we're crystals forever now and...

Oh well, then tell the story. I'd like to hear about it from you. You're a good storyteller.

Uhmn, okay...I guess I'll start back when we first ventured through Gran Pulse...

"Ooooiii!~", Vanille called with an extremely perky tone from her perch on the edge of a cliff, "Hurry up!" Lightning jumped along the cliff's ragged edge with Fang not too far behind. Snow and Hope looked from the base of the high precipice, having to shade their eyes from the sun. Sazh scoffed and threw up his arms. Snow and Hope looked at each other with the same exasperated expression. "She really wants us to go up there huh?", Sazh said. Hope sighed, "She doesn't play around. I know from experience." Snow chuckled, "She's quite the ball of energy." Vanille shrieked, "Don't be wusses! Get up here!" She waved her arms with violent enthusiasm. The boys rolled their eyes and slowly began the climb up.

Vanille giggled triumphantly as the boys finally clawed onto the landing, panting excessively from exhaustion. Fang snickered at them and Lightning shot Snow a condescending raise of the eyebrow. Snow weakly grinned back with his usual dumb expression. "Hey, give the old man a break!", Sazh said, raising his hands into the air. Hope finally muttered in between breaths, "Why did we come up here again?" Fang answered, "Vanille said she found something and she wanted to show us." "Yeah!", she swung her arm in a circle to point, "It's this way! Come on!" She skipped away, the girls walking and boys heaving up to follow her.

Vanille skidded to a halt as she approached her interesting find. She turned and pointed, "See?" Lightning and Fang looked up, seeing as the boys straggled behind. "What do you suppose that is?", Fang said as she looked the peculiar thing up and down with her arms crossed over her chest. "I think it's a Cie'th stone,", Vanille said, hopping to each side of the large stone and examining its crystal surface with curiosity and placing her inquisitive index finger to her lip, "but it looks kinda odd though." "Whatever it is, don't touch it.", Lightning's eyes were narrowing, "We're barely getting by as it is. We don't need any more trouble." The boys appeared behind them and Sazh said, "What is THAT?" Vanille spun around and answered with her arms raised and head cocked for emphasis, "We dunno." They all examined the rock with questioning and wary looks.

The stone was crystalline and held the same basic design of that of a Cie'th stone, but that was where the similarities ended. It was bright orange and dark violet in color, three times as tall as the usual stone, spikes jutting out from the back where the arc should be, and; instead of a serene and spritely goddess gracing the front of the crystal; there was an odd bird shaped crest. It was hovering above the floor and glowing faintly, the shine beating with a rhythmic pulse that swept through the air.

The pulse spread out further at the arrival of the boys and formed into waves, washing over the l'Cie a strange feeling. Almost fluid and eager, it licked at their skin and lapping at them as the ocean would to the shore. It slowly crept its entwining ripples into the l'Cie's minds, washing over them on the inside with warm feeling. Not soon after the feeling took hold, a voice swept in called out in their minds 'Come...Hear my story...Finish my Focus...', then ebbed back its hold only to entwine itself around them again along with the pulse and its sensations. The voice was rasping, desperate, enticing, and held an air of a divine yet personable feminine figure. They could tell this without even seeing it, listening with intrigue and almost a tiny bit of lust. The actual nature of the being was uncertain, feeling friendly and yet poisonous all at once. An almost guilty pleasure if you will, addicting but still righteous and pure in every way.

It wanted them back, with a burning passion that could be felt in the air. The voice became tangible, holding their hands like a best friend once, patting their shoulders like a mother next, then caressing their cheeks like a lover. But they wanted it more, so much so that it felt like their entire soul rested on even the tiniest moment of its rapture. They were talked into thinking that they couldn't let this amazing sensation slip away, because once it was gone they would never feel such love again. And the touch was so sensual and amorous that it became addicting, making them fill with elation as it slowly began to wax its touch over their brain, bask in joy when it soaked over them, aggressively cling to it when it pulled back, and cry out in fatal desire when it ebbed completely away. Such conflicting and yet intense mix of emotions was just too much. It felt so wrong yet so fine all at once. They wanted to give into to this sensual and loving feeling and let it surround around them with its overwhelming embrace again and again...

They stared at it with intent and wonder, hanging on every utterance the spirit-like voice made. Even Lightning's eyes were bright with longing. Hope raised his hand up to give in to the ensnaring call but when his hand came into his view, he blinked awake and examined his mark. The voice recoiled back from his hand and he was left with lingering regret until his sense began to restart. Then a frightened expression took over his face. "What's going on?", he called out in surprise, making everyone slightly turn towards him, still keeping an eye on the stone at the same time.

Hope's l'Cie brand was shining with the same orange light emanating from the stone. He flailed his hand violently, attempting to shake whatever the strange light was off. But at the same time, he didn't want it to disappear, for it to touch his cheek like his mother once did again. He became terrified at this realization and battled with his thoughts for control, snapping his arm away so he could think straight.

Fang looked down from the struggling Hope and to her side. The same light was being emitted from the brand on her arm. She gave it a look of pondering, wondering if maybe the feeling would get stronger if she touched it. She was afraid that maybe she'd end up a thrashing mess she saw Hope to be if she turned away from it as well. Or maybe that was an idea the voice injected into her mind? Either way, she softly pressed her palm into her mark. It didn't burn but felt warm and inviting, like taking a best friend's hand in yours before skipping together. Her eyes began to hang lazily and she listened to the voice get louder as it coiled around her back and whispered into her ear, 'Come...touch me...'

Vanille slowly blinked and turned around to the stone. 'Hurry...your hand...' the voice caressed her hand with a lover's kiss. "Yes...", she murmured in a seemingly unconscious, yet happy tone. The voice smiled to her and kissed her hand again, telling her sweet things about how much better it would feel if she could touch it. She slowly raised her hand up to shoulder level and straight out along with the chanting of the voice. Her bangles tinkled and beads swung as she slowly crept forward in a sleep walking state, the voice carefully leading her as if Vanille was a blind person walking in a field of tacks. However, to Vanille it felt as if she had finally met the mother she had lost before she could even meet her. And she wanted to know more about this person.

She smiled as her hand felt warmer and warmer from the voice's embrace as she neared the stone. Hope looked up at her, apparently snapped out of his trance and had managed to regain composure. He quickly ran up to Vanille, "Wait! Vanille!" He snatched her arm as her finger became an inch away from the increasingly satisfied crystal.

"Let go Hope. It wants me to help it.", Vanille murmured with a sleepy, emotionless tone. "Who knows what it wants? We don't even know what 'it' is!", Hope urged, keeping a strong hold on Vanille's arm. She gave a haunting, empty-eyed side look to Hope, "It wants you to come too..." Hope blinked as his hand felt warm again, the voice lightly taking him by the hand. He looked down at it with an almost pleasing surprise. He blinked as her remembered his mother's hand and let go of his hold on Vanille to reach out to his seemingly apparent mother. Vanille smiled as she raised her hand up again and let out a blissful sigh as her palm connected with the crystal's surface. The crystal let out a blinding light from the place where Vanille's palm laid on its surface.

The voice smiled, that is if you could see it, which the l'Cie apparently could. A face appeared in their minds as the light faded. It had a delicate opaque veil covering its eyes, long dark hair flowing from underneath that framed a pale, heart shaped face. It had an almost sweet smile, one you would find your mother would give you to comfort you. Yet its expression read conviction and determination at the same time. "I need you to help my children defeat the rising storm harming their universe's tranquil balance. For in defeating their evil, you will find the way to defeat yours.", the voice prophesied in an ethereal and royal tone. She gave one last friendly smile and whispered, "May the Maker be at your side and my blessing be to your service." She bowed and began to disappear into a haze. "Wait...", Vanille murmured with soft urgency, reaching out to take the voice's non-existent hand. The voice shook her head and and whispered, "Good luck, sweet child." Vanille stretched her hand out further, but it loosened without her command and went to her side.

"Huh?", Vanille murmured sleepily as her eyelids forced closed. She tried to force them open but they snapped shut by themselves, enshrouding her in darkness. A whoosh of force tingled against her skin, sending a freezing sensation up and down her nerves. She flicked her eyeballs spastically beneath her closed lids to ascertain what was happening. Her body did not listen to any of her commands and seemed to float on an electric cloud. It sent burning shocks of pain that made her body twist a little on its own. She couldn't move to get away from the pain, not even able to wretch her face. Vanille sat inside her almost convulsing shell, shrinking in fear from and wishing for it to stop. Then her mind slowly went blank as her inner voice began to fade on her as well, sending her into a silent frenzy. Then it all went cold and her soul fell into stasis, without a thought or stir. Despite all of that, she was still waiting for something to wake her up, hoping it would be sweetly and gently with the last of her evanescent vitality.


	2. Chapter 2: To Each His Own Battle

I heard two people pull chairs up next to me, one on either side. I barely had time to look up from my glass of sake when one of them spoke. "Kiba-kun, you've been down lately, and as your teammates, we need to help you."

"Hinata…" I began, but I couldn't say any more. Her voice reminded me too much of her.

"Maybe talking about it will help…" she whispered, and put her hand on my shoulder. "Start with how you found them, don't leave anything out.

"O…Ok…" I said and took a deep breath.

I was walking down the street to the shrine. I went there on the weekends, to pray for Dad. He'd died before I was born, but it felt good to pray for him. Hana usually came, but today I was on my own. I strode into the shrine, Akamaru staying respectfully at the door. I knelt in front of the statue and whispered my prayers—for mom, for Hana, for Akamaru's puppies (yes, he has children) and for Hana, my team, everyone really.

Suddenly, I heard a thump behind me, and a groan. I turned around, and a pink haired girl who looked like Sakura, but wasn't Sakura was lying on the floor. "Urgh…" She said, and sat up. After her eyes refocused, she asked, "Who are you?" She was quite skimpily dressed. She was pretty damn hot too, so it looked good.

I didn't answer. Now I knew how Hinata felt.

I walked out of the shrine, carefully checking behind me. Hell, she was hot, but mom told me not to talk to strangers, and she definitely qualifies, seeing as she pretty much fell out of the sky right behind me. Hope she liked my ass.

Whatever Hope was currently laying on was soft. And warm. It felt all cushy, something he hadn't experienced in a while, since before the whole l'Cie mess began. The electrifying pangs had subsided a while ago he assumed, since he couldn't feel anything or think at all for a while and no longer had any aches now. His entire body was incredibly drained from a battering that he couldn't remember all of the details of. The non-feeling had slowly melted away, opening up to the fuzzy sensation he felt now. His eyes wouldn't open yet, but he didn't really mind. He wanted to relish this little moment of comfort, even if he had no idea if that was a good or bad thing. He curled up into a ball and thought for a fleeting moment that he was home with the people he cared about most, safe and waiting for him when he wakes up.

He finally decided to let go of the last bound string of comfort, in the hopes that he was right and could greet her. He slowly pulled his eyes open. It had taken a lot of energy actually, and he just sat and watched in a half awake state. The details were fuzzy, but he could make out that he was on a bed and that there was someone in the doorway. And that person had turned towards him just now, saw Hope with his eyes open, and was coming closer. Hope's blood was injected with a freezing chill when he couldn't recognize the person or see the person he had wished to. He sat still in fear, not daring to move even if he could.

The boy who came and sat before him had spiky blond hair and weird etchings on his cheeks. His eyes weren't the friendliest but they weren't menacing either. He was dressed mostly in black and stared intently down at Hope, as if he was memorizing every thing about Hope's face. Hope recoiled a little but tried to remain still just in case. Hope's heart pumped fear throughout his veins and his face must have read it.

"Who are you?", the boy asked suddenly, with the slightest bit of malice. Hope's lip quivered a little as he answered, frightened by the boy's hostile tone and what it had suggested about the current situation, "Ho-ope..." Hope took in a breath and repeated steadier, "My name is Hope Estheim. I'm...", Hope's eyes flicked, "from Cocoon." Hope placed a hand over his wrist, prepared to use magic. Just in case.

"What the fuck is Cocoon?", the boy pronounced with gusto, making Hope tighten his grip around his wrist. The boy must have noticed Hope cringe and muttered, "I'm sorry..." The boy carefully sat down next to Hope, "Had a bad day today." Hope watched the boy, keeping his hand in place in case he was being fooled. "So...", the boy sighed, "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. Don't like to tell people stuff, but I'm willing to hear them. This is Konoha, and we're a ninja village."

Hope warily asked as he tapped his wrist, "How come you're angry?" "The people hate me here. If you expect to be respected, you're not gonna get respect or much of anything by hanging out with me, okay?" Hope furrowed his brow and muttered under his breath, "Not like I had any to begin with." Naruto shot a look at Hope and Hope sucked in a breath. Naruto kept an eye raised until Hope had broken down and whispered, "You're cursed too right?" "Not cursed, per se, but definitely not blessed." Naruto's hands both drifted to his stomach until they hovered in the air over it. Hope followed Naruto's hands with his eyes and seemed to understand. Hope took his hand off his wrist.

Naruto got up off the bed and said, "I have to go now...Hope. I'll see you later? Dinner's at seven. Just in case you were planning on going somewhere." Hope watched as Naruto exited the room. He heard a coat grabbed off a hook about two minutes later then a door slam.

Hope raised his hand up to his mouth and yawned. He pushed his cheek into the pillow and snuggled up again, pulling the sheets up to his chin. He had been dreaming about Light until his eyes were open and thought that maybe he could get back to it if he fell asleep again. That way, he didn't have to worry or sit with lingering dread. He imagined that Light would be there next time, she always came back. He wanted to see her.

Now.

Fang raised a hand to her eyes. She was looking up at the sky and the sun was casting a shadow on her sight. She lowered her hand to examine her surroundings. Trees circled her even though she was in a clearing. She huffed, not deducing her exact location minus the fact she was in a forest. And without the others. She might seem cool on the outside, but Fang was in a tizzy on the inside. She wanted to shriek until her throat burned but locked it away, not wanting to give away her location to something potentially dangerous.

She slightly stamped her feet in irritation as she ran into the woods, but still kept relatively quiet. She scanned everything as she weaved through the trees with impressive speed. She didn't want to be the one separated from the group every time. She didn't want to be alone again. And to her horror, not a single soul was in sight. Where was the wildlife? Where was anything? Where were the other l'Cie?...

Where was Vanille?

She followed me out of the shrine, but then I turned around and did the one thing I never thought I'd do. "Hey, what's your name? Mine's Kiba."

"I'm Vanille! It's nice to meet you Kiba!" she said, a spring suddenly appearing in her already bouncing step. I smiled and walked forward. I almost walked into Naruto who immediately said, "She's wearing strange clothes. Seems like she's from somewhere… far away…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confusedly staring at Vanille, who I barely knew.

Vanille paused for a moment and said,"That depends on where we are now."

"Konoha."Naruto said.

"Oh… I'm from Gran Pulse."

"Where's that?" I asked.

"Umm… Random Girl Whose Name I Do Not Know, do you happen to have a strange tattoo/mark thing somewhere?" Naruto asked, one eyebrow raised. Vanilla's hand moved instinctively to her hip.

"I found another one with a strange mark; kinda like my seal… he was wearing a lot of orange and a strange-ass bandana and told me his name was Hope. He's a pretty nice guy actually, but a bit of a wuss."

"You've seen Hope?" Vanille yelled and hugged Naruto. "Where? Is he that way?" she asked (a/n: Well…yelled) pointing in the direction Naruto had come from.

"Ugh… females…" Naruto groaned and shook her off. "Anyway, I'm off to check on the little invalid. Tell me if you find anymore."

"Wait… Mister Spiky Hair! Come back! I have question for you!" She yelled and ran after Naruto, chasing the blur of orange running off into the distance. "Where is Fang?"And of course, I ran after her. What? She was hot!

I caught up to them as Vanille and Naruto reached the Academy. I saw Vanille pin Naruto to the wall and ask him a question, as Naruto shivered under her intense gaze. Hinata walked out of the door, obviously letting the children from her class go out to play, and walked straight into Vanille, who was practically on top of Naruto. Damn… I really wished I was him. Her skirt was riding up, and she's got muscle. Makes her even hotter, I thought. Hopefully my lower region doesn't betray anything. At least I don't suck at human, let alone, female interaction. I woulda done something. He… He just kinda wiggled away and ran after Hinata.

She walked back to me, pouting all the way, and said, "Mister Spiky Hair wouldn't tell me where Fang was. I almost got angry!" She said, in her upbeat, happy way.

"Who's Fang?" I asked, "Your boyfriend?"

"Nah…" she said and laughed, making a beautiful tinkly sound… like bells. "She's my best friend. She's from the same orphanage as me… in Oerba."

"Where's that?" I asked, truly interested. Hell, I knew she wasn't from Konoha, but I assumed she was a shinobi. Looks like she was from another world.

"Oerba's a pretty place. I haven't been there in awhile. But when I was last home, it was spring. There were lots of flowers and it was really pretty. When I was there last, it was spring and it was filled with all sorts of flowers, more so then usual. But it's been a long time so I don't know what it's like now...and I was small then, so everything looked bigger and better than it does now…" She said and trailed off into silence.

"If it helps at all, Vanille, I'll help you get back home." I said.

"Thanks, Kiba. That means a lot to me."

"Hinata! That wasn't what you think you saw! She was asking me about her friend! Really!" I yelled and finally caught her hand and turned her tear-streaked face towards mine. "Hinata… believe me. I would never do anything like that… with anyone… but you."

Hinata gasped, but held her place as she said, "Th… things were a bit weird to…to...today, Na… Na... Naruto-kun…"

He brought a finger to her lips, "Shh… I have a question for you… or rather two. One: Saturday dinner? And Two: Have you met anyone with a weird tattoo today, who didn't know what Konoha is?"

"Yes… there was a man named Snow. I found him outside the Hyuuga Manor, lying on the ground. I brought him to Tsunade-sama and now he's with me at the Academy. There he is." She pointed to a huge, muscular man with blond hair tucked under a black beanie and a long trench coat playing with the kids.

"Looks like a fighter." I said. "I got a wuss… lucky Hina-hime."

Kankuro huffed. Tinkering with his puppets was getting really boring. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. He closed his eyes and lingered in his thoughts for a second. He drifted into thinking about how he hadn't received his next , erm, 'magazine' issue yet. He decided to just think about the riches he would observe inside when he finally got it. Oooh, that blond chick is hot in that bathing suit. He stuck his tongue out a little bit. He preferred pink haired chicks though. Then he wretched his face. NOT Sakura though. He sighed and stared out a window. Man, how he wished something exciting would happen.

And right then, Kankuro fell in love with fate.

He watched with a dumbfounded look on his face as a woman appeared in the street below him. She had come from thin air, landing right on his door step. Kankuro had ran the fastest stretch in his life to the door.

He opened it and peered down at the sleeping beauty. No, beauty didn't even work for this babe. SEXY was the word that came to mind. Kankuro's face lit up as he examined the chick.

She had a strong face, one you would find on a she warrior. SEXY. She had very nice boobs, so large they made the vest around her chest stretch. SEXY! She hands were rough from battle and gloved with worn leather and gun metal. SEXY. The end of her vest was slightly open, revealing a tight waist and pierced belly button. SEXY! Her skort was made of leather, super short, and had zippers that went ALL the way up. SEXY! Her arms and legs were extremely toned and pulsed with muscle tension. SEXY! She had a satchel that wrapped around one of these legs, tall leather combat boots, armor on her shoulder, a small red cape that wasn't gawky but added to her valiant appeal, a large weapon in a sheath, and-HOLY SHIT-pink hair...Holy crap, Kankuro just peed his pants. Or worse.

He was drooling uncontrollably. The thoughts of how good of a twister she must be blew his mind. He was totally turned on by this tough yet currently vulnerable babe. Hrm...she IS just lying there...

Kankuro raised his eyebrow. He slowly held out a levitating hand and leaned down. "KANKURO!", a shrill voice yelled, "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Kankuro swore in his mind. He snapped his hand back and whistled nonchalantly as Temari opened the door. She gave one look to Kankuro then looked down and another look back up.

Then slapped him on the spot.

"Agh! Damnit Temari!", he spat, rubbing his cheek. Temari bent down and wrapped her arm around the women and lifted her up, "Stand clear, perv!" Kankuro sent a glare at Temari as she dragged the woman back into the house. "Man, she's kinda heavy.", Temari whispered. Kankuro raised an eyebrow then looked down. The woman had a tad ass too. Temari didn't even look around, "DO NOT make me hit you harder this time." As if on cue, Gaara walked out of the door, saw Kankuro staring at Temari, and bitch slapped him while whispering, "Dumbass...Dumbass..."

Temari dragged the woman upstairs and into her room. She huffed and dropped the woman down on the bed without a second look. She went to close the door when the air got thick. Temari froze and rolled her pupil to the very corner of her eye. "Hands in the air.", a composed and aggressive voice came, "Now." Temari did as she was told. "Turn.", the voice added. Temari turned around and faced the woman, who was now wide awake.

And had her gun blade an inch away from Temari's nose.

The woman's eyes were relentless and she kept a strong hold on the gun blade's handle with both hands. She looked Temari up and down then stopped at Temari's eyes, piercing with her striking blue ones, "Who are you?" Her voice was cold and rather brawny, but nonetheless feminine. Temari sighed, "Better question is who you are. I just saved you from a pervert after all." The woman didn't falter, "You should have let me handle the situation." Temari rolled her eyes, "You were unconscious just now." The women's eyebrow raised, "How do you know?" Temari hesitated for one second but said, "Shinobis are trained to know." The woman asked with a smooth tone, "Tell me, what is a 'shinobi'?"

Temari's eyebrows raised as she laughed, "You're kidding right?" The women raised her gun blade a little higher to Temari's nose bridge. "You're serious! Man, do you even know where you are?" The women stated, "No. But you are going to inform me. Also..." The women nudged her blade's tip against Temari's nose, "Where are the others?"

A drip of sweat formed on Temari's neck. "You don't play around do you?", Temari said flatly. The woman didn't move and her voice was getting increasingly harsh, "Answer the question." "I don't know about others, you were the only one down there.", Temari huffed in exasperation.

The woman didn't like that. She twisted the sharp tip of the blade on Temari's skin. A bead of red blood appeared on Temari's nose. Sweat dripped down Temari's face, "Easy now. Don't be so rash." The woman repeated with a little more tremble to her voice, "Where are they?" Temari repeated with more irritation, "I said I DON'T KNOW!" The woman twisted her blade again, this time with more anger and force. Blood trickled down slowly and the woman's hands began to tremble. Finally, a burst of feral emotion came from the woman as she pushed the blade even further into Temari, "WHERE IS HOPE?"

"EASY BITCH! I SAID I DON'T KNOW! IF ANYTHING, THEY MIGHT BE IN KONOHA. FOR ALL I CARE, THEY COULD BE DEAD!", Temari yelled. She was good, they gave each other that. Maybe they could be friends. But for now, they were enemies.

The woman screeched as she punched Temari across the cheek. Temari spun around, her blood spitting into the air from the scratch on her nose. Temari didn't even blink and quickly struck the woman on the side with the side of her hand. The woman dodged to her right and swung her gun blade at Temari's blindside. Temari stepped back out of the way then leapt out of the window. The woman snit under her breath and then leapt out behind Temari.

Temari turned in mid air and snapped out her scroll. The woman analyzed the situation as Temari's giant folding fan dropped into her hand. Temari grinned then snapped it open to reveal one of the stars. A blast of wind emerged from the fan and roared through the air towards the woman. The woman jerked to the side then touched her chest. Temari watched closely as the woman moved her hand from her chest then sent a bolt of lightning from her fingertips. Temari raised her fan and blew the lightning aside, burning the street when it bounced off course.

The woman glared at Temari then sent another barrage of three consecutive lightning bolts. Temari easily dodged each of the attacks then sent a blast of wind to the woman. It collided into the woman and she flew backwards onto the roof of a nearby house. The woman quickly flipped over in mid air and landed on her feet. Temari grinned and the woman glared back.

"So, what's your name?", Temari said as she sent another whirlwind towards the woman. The woman didn't answer and sent a blast of her own brand of air back onto the whirlwind. It blew aside Temari's winds then struck Temari herself. Temari landed steady on her two feet on a rooftop parallel to the woman's. "Heh, you're pretty good.", Temari chuckled.

Temari flipped open her fan more to reveal the second star. She immediately spun around and sent a faster wind towards the woman. The woman jumped out of the way and sent a fireball towards Temari. Temari shrieked as she tried to stop the fire from colliding with her fan and allowed it to burn her shoulder. "Damn you!", Temari shouted as she sent another flurry of winds towards the woman.

The woman gracefully flipped over to another rooftop then sent a glowing ball over Temari. Temari looked up and saw a silver comet descending on her. Temari leapt out of the way and watched with a teeny bit of awe as the sphere exploded, flashing so bright that Temari had to cover her face with her fan. There was a deafening boom and Temari blinked as silver crystal dust filled the air where she had been. When it cleared, a huge dent in the roof that could have been her was left.

Temari looked up and saw the woman just as she brought her blade down. Temari sidestepped at the last second and blasted the woman in the side with air. The woman flew and hit the roof but quickly got back up. Temari sent another wind at the woman but she had already gotten up and dodged. Temari looked to her side as the woman flew directly towards her. Temari opened her fan up all of the way to reveal the final star and sent a gale force windstorm head on to the woman. The woman snapped her finger and a blue light enveloped her. Temari blinked in surprise as the woman sped through the eye of the maelstrom with unprecedented force.

The woman pointed her gun blade's head at Temari and shot four times. Temari dodged until one clipped her shoulder and then allowed the last one to lodge itself in her side as she fell to her knees. The woman charged onward and flipped her gun blade back into a blade, its tip hungry for Temari's flesh.

Temari braced herself for the inevitable stab. But when no pain came, Temari warily looked up. The woman held the blade directly over Temari's face, pausing to lunge it down with force. Or maybe it was hesitation? "Heh, you're really good.", Temari chuckled as she looked up at the woman without fear. She knew Gaara always had perfect timing.

The woman gasped a little as she was pulled into a whirl of raging sand. Temari stood up as she watched the woman be eaten by a sphere of sand then looked over her shoulder. "Took you damn long enough!", she yelled to Gaara, who was standing on an opposing roof. Gaara raised his forehead a little in acknowledgement but kept his gaze on the almost-house-sized, revolving sand sphere. Temari jumped over to him and said, "Man, that one's pretty large. You aren't taking any chances with this one are you?" Gaara shook his head. Temari chuckled, "Well this got boring fast. You're just going to eliminate her right?" Gaara said nothing but his eyes narrowed. Temari shot him a confused look then looked up at the sphere.

The ball of swirling sand was slowing down and began to solidify, turning a dark brown color from dampening. It finally burst open, a tidal wave of water sending bunches of watery sand into the air and plastered against surrounding surfaces. Gaara raised a hand over Temari and said, "Go!" Temari nodded to him and leapt away.

Gaara raised both of his hands into the air and pulled the heavy, sluggish sand back up slowly. The woman was much quicker, moving as fast as the lightning rain she sent over him. Gaara stood his ground as the static went threw his veins and ignored the pain as he finally heaved the sand into balls again. Gaara flicked his fingers out and the balls shot at the woman. The woman quickly touched her chest again and a red light overtook her. She hastily launched out of the way of the onslaught. Gaara's upper lip raised as he boomeranged them back at her. The woman flourished her gun blade then shot each one out of the air at break neck speeds. She finally landed back on the ground then gave a determined glare to Gaara. And he returned it.

This was only the beginning of what was going to be one hell of a battle.

"Hot damn.", Kankuro whispered under his breath in awe. "What the hell Kankuro?", Temari appeared behind him and rapped the back of his head, "You wanted me to get shot?" Kankuro didn't look up, "No, I didn't want to interrupt the entertaining bitch fight. Damn, you two were good." Temari bit her lip, "That woman is something else. And I noticed that right before each attack, she touches her chest. Maybe that's where she connect with her chakra or something." She looked to Kankuro and saw him gawking at the woman, drool lazily hanging off his lip, "Ew. Keep it in your pants."

The woman had raised her blade, which was now engulfed by lightning magic, an inch away from Gaara's neck. Gaara pointed the tip of his Sabaku no Ken to the very spot where the women kept summoning her attacks from. They both glared at each other with fierce eyes, locked in stalemate. "Kazekage-sama?" All the combatants turned at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Bearing the brunt of all their glares was a Jonin; a tall, brown haired man who looked quite desirable. (A/N: THIS IS NOT KANKURO, FOR ANY OF YOU FANGIRLS...calm down dattebayo!) "You have a meeting, sir. I'm here to escort you to the Council building."

Gaara's eyes narrowed, but then he shifted his gaze to the woman. They both lowered their blades with a nod of respect. Gaara bowed his head, "Would you like to come as well? I suppose we'll have to find a place for you? Lady..."

"Lightning." The woman replied, brushing her pink hair out of her eyes with a couple fingers then flipping her gun blade back into its holster.

"Lightning... is that your given name? Or is it one you have given yourself?" Gaara asked, raising an eyebrow in contemplation as he studied the female in front of him.

"Lightning.", she repeated with her gruff tone, "Former Sergeant Lightning Farron of the Bodhum Guardian Corps regiment." Lightning brusquely flicked her head, "Who are you?"

"Sabaku no Gaara, leader of the village of Sunagakure, where you currently are. The girl with the fan is my elder sister, Sabaku no Temari, and my elder brother Kankuro was the man who first saw you. I apologize for his... immoral conduct..." Gaara said and smiled slightly. Both turned quickly at a gasp from Temari, Gaara moving quicker than the woman, to see a teenage boy standing behind Temari, wielding a shadow. "Nara, you'd best get my sister and go, if you're planning on kidnapping her." The boy nodded and he and Temari set off across the rooftops.

Gaara turned back to Lightning, "So... Farron-san, will you come?" Lightning gave the strange looking guy an almost condescending look and walked past him and leapt after Nara and Temari. He was smart and respected, she had deduced, and would soon learn that was her usual manner. And to respect it.

A/N: So… this is dattebayo1213. How did you like my chapter? Better than OKM's right? (I seriously doubt it…) Hm. I hope you all reviewed and read this.

A/N: Mieke here. Hey, I helped too dattebayo gawd. I love writing this!~ But then again, I love writing anything with the l'Cie in it 3. And anything that pokes fun at Naruto characters (trust me, there is sooo much more in store there) Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: Natural Defenses

Vanille felt and heard a slam as the back of her head collided with a hard surface, pulling her out of her floating stasis instantaneously. She groaned and her eyes forced open from shock. She quickly sat up and shook her head, curly pigtails dancing. She raised a hand to coddle her going to be bruising head and blinked to consciousness. Vanille's eyes were slowly gaining focus again when she saw a boy staring at her. She knew it was the wrong thing to talk to a stranger (one would could end up pursuing her) but she had apparently lost a sense of common sense from her concussion. She said with a confused tone as she hazily gazed at the man, "Who are you?"

She blinked, realizing what she had just done with renewed sense, and warily watched the boy. He didn't say anything and stayed still. Vanille was taken aback until she realized it was possible that she had just appeared out of no where and surprised the boy as much as she was. She raised a hand to her mouth as the man walked out of the room she was in without a word. She hesitantly thought of her possible actions and, seeing the situation was already helpless, decided to walk after the guy she hadn't even met. She skipped after him briskly to catch up, beads and other accessories hopping along with her bouncy step.

The boy turned towards her and Vanille quickly put up a friendly smile even though she was being wary. He wouldn't be able to tell anyway, but it's good to be safe and give a friendly impression if she was to stay with the guy. But when she had seen his face, the smile became genuine. He was a rather handsome fellow. But she pushed that thought back as she listened to the boy say, "Hey, what's your name? Mine's Kiba."

Kiba. Vanille liked that name. "I'm Vanille.", she answered with an endearing smile and sprung forward to hold out a hand, "It's nice to meet you Kiba." Kiba walked forward to take Vanille's hand when another boy appeared and stepped in the way. "It's another one...", was what Vanille heard under the new boy's breath. She recoiled her hand in shock and for a split second her face betrayed a sense of fear. She shook it off and stood straighter, regaining her playful composure, "What? You get many cute girls here?" The boy didn't smile and said, "That's not what I meant." Vanille dropped in her mind but she remained upright, forcing a mischievous smirk on her face. Kiba said with a confused tone, "What do you mean then?"

The new boy (whom Vanille had just noticed had gravity defying spiked hair, to her great intrigue) looked Vanille up and down with an analyzing look on his face, "She's wearing strange clothes. Seems like she's from somewhere...far away..." Sweat trailed down the back of Vanille's neck but she said, "Well, I think I'm from far away...depends on where we are now." The boy answered brusquely, "Konoha." Vanille shook her head, "Nope. I guess I'm from somewhere far away then. I'm from Gran Pulse." Kiba asked, "Where's that?" The boy's eyes narrowed and he asked carefully, "Um...Random Girl Whose Name I Do Not Know, do you happen to have a strange tattoo/mark thing somewhere?" Vanille's face finally dropped from a smile and her eyes widened, "Yeah...why?" Her voice was shaky and she moved a hand to her hip over where her brand was.

The boy gave a side glance at the hand she had moved but continued, "I found a kid who was wearing a lot of orange and a strange-ass bandana and told me his name was Hope. He's a pretty nice guy actually, but a bit of a wuss." Vanille's eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together as she grinned so wide she could catch flies, "You've seen Hope?" The boy raised an eyebrow but Vanille was so happy at the news she lunged forward and hugged him. "I'm so glad I know where someone else is!", she pulled back and shook the spiky haired boy's shoulder violently, "Where is he?" Then she let go and pointed in the direction the boy had come from, "That way?"

The boy groaned, "Ugh...females..." He moved farther away from Vanille and started back the way he came, "Anyway, I'm off to check on the little invalid. Tell me if you find more." "Wait!…Mister Spiky Hair! Come back! I have a question for you!" Vanille yelled and ran after the boy, chasing the blur of orange running off into the distance. "Where is Fang?", Vanille yelled so hard that her mouth grew dry. Vanille huffed and thumped harder on the ground with her heels. She reached out and grabbed the boy's collar. She quickly spun around a corner and pinned the boy against the wall. She lifted her foot in between his thighs and pressed her knee into his chest. She slapped one arm down on his forehead and glared into his one inch away eyes.

Vanille said with a low and ferocious voice, "Don't make me repeat myself. Where. Is. Fang?" Her eyes smoldered and she put more pressure on the boy's chest. He tensed and his face grew visibly anxious. Vanille raised her eyebrow as he stuttered and didn't answer clearly. Vanille pressed his face back and leaned in closer to glare more fiercely at him.

That was when someone appeared. It was a dark blue haired lady with strange eyes. She gasped in shock and was gaping at them. "Na-Naruto?", she shrieked and then turned tail and ran. Vanille shot the lady's back a confused look and the boy took the opportunity to break free. "Wait! Hinataaaa!", he yelled as he ran off after the girl.

Vanille puckered her lip and stood back, watching the boy get away. She spotted Kiba out of the corner of her eye and stomped to him, full on pouting. "Mister Spiky Hair wouldn't tell me where Fang was. I almost got angry!", Vanille said with her frustrated yet cutesy and upbeat tone. "Who's Fang?", Kiba asked, "Your boyfriend?" Vanille giggled, "Nah, she's my best friend. We grew up together in the same orphanage." "What was your home like?", Kiba asked with an I'm-clearly-interested look. Vanille pondered what she should say for a second then answered, "Well, Oerba is a pretty place, filled with greenery and smells of nature. When I was there last, it was spring and it was filled with all sorts of flowers, more so than usual. But it was such a long time ago so I don't know what it's like now..." Her voice trailed off with a tinge of sadness. Kiba looked at her, "If it helps at all, Vanille, I'll help you get back home." Vanille blinked in surprise at Kiba's kindness and a small smile graced her lips.

"Thanks Kiba. That means a lot to me."

* * *

Hope slowly blinked his eyes open. He mumbled as his eyes refocused. He was still in that strange room. He looked up at the clock. 6:30...Naruto had said seven right? Which means he has time to explore...Hope scrawled up and off the bed. He stretched his arms out over his head as he walked out of the room. He explored the smallish house for a little bit, coming to the conclusion that he could trust what Naruto had said. That and that Naruto isn't exactly the most efficient cleaner and really likes ramen. Hope found the front door and peeked his head out.

The neighborhood looked a bit different from the ones in Cocoon, but still normal and it didn't have a sinister air to it. Hope cautiously closed the door behind him and turned back around to come face to face with pitchforks.

"Wha-?", Hope started when one of the villagers said over him, "Who are you?" Hope quickly hid his branded wrist behind his back and moved his other hand against the door without speaking. "Answer us!", someone else yelled. Hope felt around for the doorknob with his hand when one of the villagers got impatient. "You aren't getting away!", they charged forward and grabbed Hope's hand.

"Let me go!", Hope yelled, flailing his free hand to push away. Another villager grabbed Hope's other hand and suspiciously examined it. Hope swallowed in fear as the villager demanded, "Is this some sort of demon seal? Get him!" Hope screeched "NO!" then burst a flame from his hand. The villagers let go of him and staggered back, the ones who had been holding him down patting flames off in a frenzy. Hope took the opportunity to run for it.

* * *

Lightning stared off into the distance wistfully, even with her hard eyes. Gaara must have taken notice and asked, "Are you alright Lightning-san?" "I'm fine.", she answered curtly back without looking at him. "It's about your comrades isn't it?", his eyes narrowed curiously. Lightning continued onward, "If there's a chance they are in Konoha like you said, then I'm taking it." "I suppose that would be...a required risk." Gaara replied, lost in thought. He thought Naruto was the only one that cared for his comrades to that extent. Now it seemed as if there were more.

Maybe he could become like that as well. He looked over at Lightning, and easily saw the concern in the older woman's eyes. Maybe he could be that concerned... like Naruto... and now Lightning.

"Are there any dangers in Konoha?", Lightning asked as she kept a steady pace forward. "None at the time.", Gaara replied, looking in the approximate direction of the village. "About this comrade of yours... what is he like?", Gaara asked.

Temari turned toward her brother, "Gaara... she may not want to answer that. How would you feel if... Kankuro went missing, or got hurt really bad, and people asked you about him. Wouldn't you get mad?" "No. Che. It's Kankuro. Everyone hates Kankuro.", Gaara said, rolling his eyes. "HEY!", Kankuro yelled, "BE NICE, LITTLE BROTHER!" Lightning remained eerily quiet while she listened. "Sorry, Lightning-san. Gaara's never been the social type, so he never really learned what to say in these situations...", Temari said, while glaring at Gaara, who shrugged and ran faster.

"Hope is young and inexperienced. I don't know how he would get by alone in the current situation.", Lightning said out of nowhere. Gaara looked over at Lightning, "Inexperienced? In what way?"

"He's only been in battle for about two weeks.", she almost spat, "He's my charge, I should be with him." She paused then added with a hint of spite, "Failing again is not an option." She sprinted faster to avoid any more chat on the matter.

Gaara nodded. He could understand the woman's fear of failure. As a child, his father had accepted nothing less than the best from him, and he had suffered horribly as a result. He could only guess at the pain and anguish the woman was feeling. If he had no idea where Naruto was then he might be as flustered as she, but thankfully he knew that.

* * *

Naruto was running once again, faster than ever before. He knew they'd be coming for him today, like always, shelving away the fact that he was a ninja of the very village that gave them a home and worked to protect them daily. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Words could not express the hate and anger he felt towards the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but because of it he became who he is.

His feet unconsciously traveled towards the Hyuuga manor, outside of which he had many childhood days chasing and speaking with the heiress. He looked through the gates and saw no one. After staring hopefully, he took off. The Hyuugas weren't supposed to know that he still met with the heiress on anything but work-related business, so it was best he did not linger too long.

He sighed. Right now, the villagers must be attacking his house with pitchforks, and attempting to bash in his door. And Hope might open the door...oh shit, HOPE!

Naruto switched direction effortlessly and ran back towards his house, avoiding the civilian sector. He reached the back door of the apartment, and used his key to get in. What he saw inside made him groan. Hope was gone, and the civilians had started a small fire and burned his belongings... again.

However, Naruto's trained eyes took in the fact that the fire was quite controlled. "Ninjas helped.", he said, speaking to no one in particular. He chuckled, "Great. I have to start all over. Again. That shouldn't be a problem, seeing how used to it I am. Konoha is a truly despicable place..."

He walked into his bedroom and checked for major property loss. Good, the only major thing missing was his dresser, which he saw had been burned. But the only other thing that made him angry was... Hope was gone, and he didn't know where to find him. The only person other than Hinata, Gaara, and Shikamaru that attempted to help him at first sight was gone.

And, to make matters worse, he had no idea where he was.

* * *

Hope's breathing was fast and erratic, but forced quiet. He had squeezed in between crates in an alleyway to hide, thankful for his small build for once. Great, the people in Konoha fear l'Cie too and now they are chasing after him. Did they catch Lightning and the others? No, they couldn't have. Were they running too? Hope bit his bottom lip; of course they were running, they'd never get any rest for the rest of their increasingly short l'Cie lives. Hope pulled the yellow wristband up higher conceal his brand more.

He listened carefully as the villagers rampaged through the streets, searching for him no doubt. "You find the other Jinchuriki yet?" Is that what they call l'Cie here? "No but we have to catch him! We have one of 'em running around as it is, and we don't no where he is now either." They must be talking about Naruto or the others...at least they haven't been caught yet.

Hope breathed an audible sigh of relief. "You here that?", one of the pitchfork wielding villagers said. Hope sucked in a breath and froze. "It came from the alley.", one of them whispered, just loud enough for Hope's strained ears to hear. Hope remained as still as could be, not even breathing.

"We know you're here Jinchuriki!", one of the villagers catcalled, its voice getting closer than before. Sweat dripped down the side of Hope's burning face. "Come out nicely and we won't have to hurt you!", they sneered even closer. Hope struggled to keep his lungs shut tight to avoid giving his position away. He was stuck and almost out of breath; he had to act fast. But what...?

Hope spotted a few pieces of trash across the way from him. He let out a breeze of air that swirled them to cause faint movement. "Aha! Got you!", one of them called. "Wait!", the other whispered, "He's over there. He must have moved the trash somehow." Hope swallowed hard, were these people specially trained or something? They're smarter than PSICOM that's for sure...

Hope braced himself for the inevitable snatching when he heard someone call out, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Hope called out happily, "Sno-!" then immediately covered his mouth. "Who are you?", one of the villagers jeered. "I'm the hero!", Snow answered back with his usual boasting tone.

"You get the hiding one, I'll take care of the big oaf!", the villager yelled. Hope heard hurried footsteps towards him then Snow chiding, "Oh no you don't!" It was useless to continue hiding so Hope emerged from his hiding place. Hope watched as the closest villager had his feet frozen to the floor and had stopped moving. Hope coiled away from his futilely grabbing arms and cast a Blizzard spell on the other villager who had ran towards Snow to freeze that guy down too.

"Hope, you alright?", Snow said as he punched the closest guy unconscious. Hope stopped in front of him, "Yeah! I'm glad you are too. How'd you find me?" "The villagers were causing a ruckus and I overheard them talking about a dangerous runaway kid. I knew it was you immediately!", Snow chuckled as he messed up Hope's hair. Hope pouted playfully, "Oh really?"

Snow opened his mouth to reply when some more villagers appeared behind them. "Uh oh, more trouble.", Snow cracked his knuckles, "Ready kid?" Hope nodded and took his boomerang out from his back pocket, "Ready." "Let's get 'em!", the villagers yelled as they began to charge.

* * *

Sasuke was having his daily emo corner time er...training, when he saw a girl sprint past his window. She had unruly raven hair, a blue sari, large tattoos on her arms, a rough but gorgeous face, and was adorned with lots of exotic jewelry.

She was the one who would help revive his clan. She was perfect. Now all he had to do was get her.

Of course, with his super Gary-Stu Powers, that shouldn't be hard, right? Think again.

Fang took a step when she felt a disturbance in the force, no, forest. There was a crunching sound from behind her, like someone took an accidental miss-step onto a stick. "Agh!", she heard someone silently swear behind her. She turned and snarled, "Don't hide from me!"

Fang glared at the tree where she knew someone was obviously hiding. Sasuke whispered, "SHE'S LOOKING AT ME!" Fang heard a faint mumble and whipped out her lance, making an loud snap as she flipped the points out. Sasuke scoffed. Che, he could take her down.

Fang stabbed through the tree truck with so much force, Sasuke could feel the sharp points hit his back.

Shit. Maybe he couldn't beat this one. He has a lot to learn from Hinata.

She ripped the lance out, the tree groaning and tottering, ready to fall down on top of Sasuke. Oh SHIT. Sasuke leapt out of the way and faced the beauty. She was snarling at him and twirled her lance menacingly as she screeched, "You looking for a fight?" Oh hell no.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!", Sasuke yelled as he unleashed the giant fireball. Fang snit as she leapt out of the way and cast Ruin in his direction. Sasuke dodged and used Housenka no Jutsu. Fang smirked as she dodged and used her lance to deflect.

"Kuso!" Sasuke cursed under his breath, watching as the woman smirked at him. Her prowess was unrivaled by the many geniuses he had fought over the years. Hell, she could probably beat Itachi. But then again, so did he.

He smirked back, and said, "Uchiha Ichizoku no Himitsu no Jutsu: Kyūkyoku no Haiboku!" Let's see her beat the Ultimate Defeat, he thought. Fang narrowed her eyes and readied to dodge, tensing her toned muscles.

But nothing happened.

Fang straightened up and shot Sasuke a raise of the eyebrow, placing her hand on her hip. Sasuke remained frozen in shock. HOW THE HELL DID SHE BEAT THAT? AND WHY DON'T I KNOW HER TECHNIQUES? WHAT THE FUCK! That's it, Mangekyou Sharingan time!

"I've had enough of this.", Fang huffed as she stuck her blade up to Sasuke's neck, "You are going to answer me." "Answer what?", he gripped her staff near where her hand was. Fang moved the tip closer so that he could really feel the sharp edge, "Some questions. First, where am I?" "You're in Konohagakure.", Sasuke moved his hand a little closer to hers while keeping his eyes locked on her wolfish ones. "Is that some sort of Ark or prison or something?", Fang narrowed her eyes and gave him a tigress glare. "Ark? Prison for some, though. It's a ninja village. You have to be shinobi though, with your fighting skills...", Sasuke carefully let his hand stop next to hers. "'Ninja village'? 'Shinobi'? Is that like another name for a l'Cie?", Fang grew visibly confused and her blade lowered a little. "Ninja village... like a village full of ninjas. And Shinobi is another word for Ninja. What's a l'Cie?", Sasuke looked just as confused.

They both awkwardly stared for a second.

"Well, you don't seem to be a threat.", Fang lowered her blade completely and twirled it back on to her back. "Che. What are you on? I am quite a threat.", Sasuke's nose crinkled up. "You're all talk, like someone else I know.", Fang flicked her hand to brush off Sasuke's snide remark, "Speaking of which, have you seen other people like me around here?" "I haven't seen anyone...Try asking my annoying teammates, they might know.", Sasuke huffed, "Ask for a Haruno Sakura and/or an Uzumaki Naruto."

Fang smirked and raised Sasuke's chin up with her slender fingers so that he would look her in the eye in all seriousness, "No way am I letting you get away. I need someone who knows their way around here. Then when I find my party, I might be nice enough to let you go without a scratch." She smiled mischievously.

She's hot. Fine. Maybe she'll learn to like me and help me revive my clan, he thought. "Che. Sure. It's not like I could train any more.", he brushed her off. Fang chuckled, "You can always use more training. You're going to go through a hell of a lot when you're around me." "Yeah. I believe you.", Sasuke snidely replied.

"Now then, take me to the people you mentioned.", Fang put her hands on her hips. "Che. You don't have to be so overbearing. However, I saw a bit of commotion around Uzumaki's house earlier. The dobe must have done something stupid again." Sasuke sighed, "We'll try Sakura's house. The annoying bitch better not fangirl again." "I'm the leader here. And I say we go to wherever there is trouble. That's usually where my party ended up anyway.", Fang asserted.

"Che. Fine. Don't get mad if the dobe isn't there. He suspiciously goes missing in the middle of October for some strange reason. No one else seems to know why.", Sasuke huffed, "But I'd rather visit him than Sakura."

"Let's go."

* * *

Vanille was about to ask Kiba something when some angry blond girl walked up to him. "Kiba-kun, I've just heard that there are a hell of a lot of foreigners here to resurrect the Kyuubi!", she steamed, "Have you seen an-", the girl pointed to Vanille and yelled, "Oh my god! You're hanging out with one! KIIIIBA!"

Vanille cocked her head, "What's a Kyuubi?", then her eyes glistened, "And everyone else is here? Have you seen any of them?" "Nah, I heard one was at Naruto's house. but I wouldn't go there. There's a whole bunch of crazies with pitchforks and burning sticks there. Bad idea.", the girl said. "Naruto said that Hope was over there right? He can't be alone! We've got to go help him!", Vanille urged, grabbing the edge of Kiba's shirt in pleading.

Kiba gave her a confident smile, "Right, Vanille. Let's go get 'em!" Vanille smiled widely as she turned and said, "Show me the way to his house Kiba! I can take the crazies!" "Only one problem though...", Kiba said, scratching the back of his head while sweating bullets. Vanille turned back around and cocked her head, "What?" "I dunno where he lives... I mean, no one's ever been to his house. 'Cept Hinata-chan... I think."

Vanille smiled at him, "That's okay." She turned to the girl again, "Do you know where the villagers are going?" "Ehh...They're all near Yondaime Avenue, at the really crappy looking apartment complex. Only the really poor people live there.", the girl rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. Vanille took Kiba's hand, "Take me there!"

"OK, Vanille, we just gotta go down this alley.", Kiba said as her led her to the mouth of a shabby alleyway. Kiba and Vanille stopped a couple feet from the alley, only to hear "I'm the hero!" echoing throughout the area. "Snow!", Vanille said as she ran forward.

A huge mob surrounded a myriad of flashes of water, lightning, frost, and fire spraying into the air. "Hope!", Vanille called out. Then she put on her determined face and began to push her way through the crowd, "Excuse me, my friend is over there!"

Kiba followed Vanille through the trail she blazed through the villagers. She was determined, pushing her way through people, but then apologizing for any inconvenience. She was adamant, but still caring. She was also quite hot. "Hey Vanille? After we find your friend and all... do you think we could get a bite to eat together? Ya know... you and me?"

One big tough guy shoved Vanille down on to the floor before she could hear Kiba's question and she huffed, "Well you don't have to be mean about it!" Kiba stared up into the man's face. "Oh... Kiba-kun, how are you?", the man asked. The man came to Hana often to have her give checkups to his dogs. He was a bastard, but they needed the money.

"Fine. I'd really appreciate it if you apologized to my friend.", Kiba said. Vanille hopped back up onto her feet, "I just need to get by you. See my friends are over there." She pointed over the guy's shoulder at Hope and Snow.

"You know them... Get her!", he yelled, and the crowd turned on the unsuspecting girl. "Aww... I didn't want to fight regular people again.", she stomped her foot like a little kid. "Oh well.", she snapped her Rod of Thorns open, "I guess I'll have to fight you to get to them!"

"You guys better not attack her!", Kiba said, jerking his thumb at Vanille. "Why not? She's here to resurrect the Kyuubi!", A villager yelled, stirring the rest into revolt. "What's a Kyuubi?", Vanille asked innocently again as she bounced playfully side to side in her fighting stance.

"See? She has no idea what the Kyuubi is! How could she be here to resurrect it if she doesn't know what it is?", Kiba yelled. The crowd began to murmur as they saw the sense in the hooded boy's words. They backed away from Snow and Hope, allowing Vanille access to her friends, neither of whom had been hurt too badly.

Vanille happily tromped forward and glomped onto Hope, "There you are!" She backed off the slightly blushing boy and shook his shoulders, "You're okay right?" Snow gave her a thumbs-up, "Yeah we're good. Nice to see ya Vanille!" Vanille let go of Hope and gave Snow a smile, "You too!" Hope looked up at Vanille then down to the floor, "Have you seen anyone else..?" Vanille stuck her tongue out, "I hoped you had..."

"Heh Heh, I guess you've found your people now...", Kiba said, folding his hands behind head and smiling. "So I'll see you around sometime?" he asked. Vanille shook her head, "Nope, we still need to find Fang. Besides, you don't have to go!" "Oh, I thought you would want to be alone with them...", Kiba said, smiling again. "Nu-uh! Stick around! Besides, we might need your help! We don't want to go around upsetting your neighbors!", Vanille said, Snow nodding in the background.

"Yeah, that's a pretty valid statement... So, boy in the bandanna, you stayin' with Naruto?", Kiba asked, turning his eyes away from Vanille, in a vain attempt to stop the oncoming blush by looking at someone else. "Yeah...is he the demon everyone is talking about? He seemed nice to me...", Hope was obviously puzzled. "Demon? Whatchoo talkin' bout Willis?", Kiba asked, laughing silently from his own pop culture reference. (A/N: D: RIP Gary Coleman! M: Amen!)

Hope's eyebrows lowered, "They came to Naruto's house and thought my l'Cie brand was some sort of demon seal. They also called someone something that started with a J and said that they had been running around already. I figured it was Naruto and that they thought l'Cie were demons like the people back on Cocoon..."

"J... J... Jiraiya? The Toad Sannin hasn't been seen in Konoha for... 20? 30 years?", Kiba asked, slightly puzzled. Hope shook his head, "It was something similar to that but no..." Snow interjected, "I think it was Jinchuriki." "Jinchuriki? I don't know what that is... We should as Iruka or... Kakashi! Hey Kakashi!", Kiba yelled, attempting to get the attention of the silver haired man who was running from a cloud of dust.

"No time, Kiba, no time... They're comiiiiiiiiiiiing!", Kakashi yelled and ran past, panting heavily. Kiba turned toward Vanille, "Would it be stretching it too far if I said that this man is one of the village's best ninja?" "No, I'd say he's pretty far ahead of the mysterious cloud of dust.", she giggled.

"KAKASHI! MY ETERNAL RIVAL! YOU MUST AWAKEN YOUR FLAMES OF !", the dust cloud yelled, and upon hearing it, Kiba face-palmed. "Here come the Konoha's Two Green Beasts... Ugh..", Kiba groaned. However, when the cloud cleared, it was revealed to be three figures, all in green spandex. "KIIIIIIIIIIIBA!", the tallest said, "Meet my newest student in the ways of YOUTH! His name is Sazh!", Gai yelled, after embracing Sazh multiple times.

"Sazh!", Vanille ran up and joined in the embraces. "Hey Vanille!", he greeted her, "How's it going?" Vanille backed up, "Good!" Then she giggled, "Pops feel like a super hero today?" Sazh nodded, "Gai-sensei is teaching me in the ways of the youth." "Please don't do the bowl cut...", Kiba begged Gai.

"OH YEAH! WE YOUTHFULL FORGOT THE LAST PART OF DEAR SAZH'S INITIATION INTO THE YOUTHFUL MEN OF KONOHA! THE BOWL CUT! AND THE EYEBROWS!", Gai yelled, and he and another spandex clad guy dragged the unsuspecting Sazh to a nearby barbershop youthfully.

"Hey now, don't be so rash!", Sazh protested, "Don't you think my afro is youthful enough?" "I think so!", Vanille called out, "Isn't that right Chocobo?" Sazh's baby chocobo flew out of his fro and onto Gai's hand. It made wing movements and squawks that read 'Sure is! Don't cut it off!'.

"YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE BOWL CUT, SAZH! BOWL CUT NO JUTSU!", Gai yelled. When the smoke cleared, Sazh and the Chocobo both had bowl cuts.

There was a long pause of awkward silence.

That was soon broken by Vanille's uncontrollable laughter. "Sazh you look so funny!", she managed to get out between laughs. Kiba was staring at the previously normal looking man with one eyebrow raised, "Wow. You look... different, now."

"WOULD YOU YOUTHFUL YOUNG MEN LIKE ONE TOO?", Gai ran up to Hope and Snow. Lee asked, "Gai-sensei! Look, a boy my age! May I teach him about youth?" "Sure, Lee, spread the flames of youth!", Gai said, patting his favorite student on the shoulder. Hope shook his head violently, "Uh, no thanks!" Snow chuckled, "Yeah, I'll pass..."

"Oh, Lee, their flames of youth aren't as strong as we thought they were...", Gai said miserably. Vanille flounced up to him, "Don't worry though! I'm sure you'll get a lot more students elsewhere someday!" Gai and Lee did a sunset hug with Vanille squished in the middle. "OH YOUTHFUL LADY, YOU ARE YOUTHFULLY CORRECT IN YOUR YOUTHFUL DISPLAY OF YOUTHFULNESS!", Gai and Lee yelled simultaneously.

"Oi, Lee!", Kiba yelled, "You seen any other foreigners around?" "No, my youthful friend! I have been fanning my flames of youth to build them higher than ever before with Sazh and Sensei! ONWARD!", Lee yelled, as he and Gai ran toward a magical sunset... again.

Vanille walked up to Kiba's side, "Should we follow after them?" "Nah. Following them around is a frickin' health hazard.", Kiba said, shaking his head. "At least we know where three of your buddies are. So how many of there are you?", Kiba asked. "Two more.", Snow said, "Lightning and Fang." Hope stared down at his feet and Vanille said, "We'll find them! I wonder...should we go find this Kakashi guy?" "Kakashi-sensei might know where Naruto is, and Naruto could help us. He's a good tracker.", Kiba said thoughtfully and motioned for Vanille, Snow, Sazh, and Hope to follow as he sped off in the direction they had seen the silver haired man going.

* * *

Gaara continued running across the rooftops, outstripping everyone, including Lightning, who wasn't taking it well. "Naruto's apartment is over there.", he said, pointing to a rather dingy looking building with graffiti all over it. Lightning scoffed and said, "If he's as powerful as you said, why doesn't he live elsewhere?" Now it was Gaara's turn to scoff. "Naruto... has a... problem... that prevents him from living elsewhere.", Gaara said, pausing to find the appropriate words to properly describe Naruto's... condition. Lightning raised a hand to her chest and whispered to herself, "Here too..." Then she said, "Understandable."

They entered the complex, and just as Lightning was wondering how they would get in without a key, they saw the door wide open, and the apartment completely ransacked and his possessions burned. Lightning looked on with indifference, "A battle was fought here." "Che. Of course.", Gaara said, feigning indifference.

"Temari? What date is today?" "Umm... the 10th of October. Why?", Temari asked, before realizing the significance of what she said, "Uh oh... we need to find him and quick." "Exactly.", Gaara replied and he turned to leave. Temari and Kankuro were going out the door and he stopped when he saw Lightning not moving yet. She stared down, her face hidden from him and observing the wreckage, "I'm coming with you."

"Alright.", Kankuro shrugged. "If you wanna come... we'll meet your friends along the way. Are there maybe any other girls?", he asked, a perverted glint suddenly appearing in his eye. "You know where they are?", Lightning's head titled to the side a little but her face was still hidden. "No.", Gaara said, "We'll find out if they are here from the Hokage." Lightning turned her head forward again, "Fine. But it's not only them I'm going for." She turned and walked past Gaara whispering to him as she passed, "Naruto is your comrade right?"

"Yes. He's one of the few who understood my pain.", he said, clutching his fist close to his heart, "He changed me into what you see now. Without him, I'd still be killing, believing that that was what proved my worth." "That's not what I meant. But I understand.", Lightning slightly smirked, "Lead the way."

After 5 more minutes of rooftop bouncing, Gaara deadpanned, "We're here.", and walked into the room. "Aah, Kazekage-sama, how nice of you to join us... oh! Another one!", Tsunade said, clapping her hands, "Oh, good, good. Naru-chan, you said you found one too." Lightning's eyebrow raised, "Another one?" "Yeah. A silver haired kid. About yea high.", Naruto said, motioning about 4.5 feet above the ground, "Was wearing a bandanna that looked green."

Lightning tromped forward to Naruto, her face remaining completely and creepily tough. She froze in front of him and stared for a second. In the next split second, Naruto found himself with his head getting smashed into the wall, Lightning pressing his head in on itself with great force. "What happened to him?", she demanded with her gruff but even tone.

"I went out to find us some food, and then I came back. Looks like the haters had ransacked my house when I was gone, and Hope was nowhere to be found. So I came here, hoping baa-chan'd know where the kid was. He listened to me... and I won't lose anyone who listens to me.", Naruto said.

Lightning's eyes narrowed and she let go, backing up and facing Tsunade, "Where is Hope?" "He was last seen with Inuzuka Kiba, about one hour ago, near the alley across from Naruto's apartment. Along with him were a red-haired girl with a large stick, a blond man with a strange hat, and a dark-skinned man with a green jacket. Kiba has been instructed to return here with his charges immediately. He should be getting here soon.", Tsunade said, literally trembling.

Lightning scoffed, "You scared of us or something?" Lightning moved her hand to her gunblade's handle. "Scared of what? I was told you were here to resurrect the Kyuubi, and doing so would kill my grandson! I don't want the only blood relative I have left dead, thank you very much!", Tsunade yelled, shaking her fist at Lightning, who remained unfazed, an unheard of accomplishment.

"And I'm in a foreign land, separated from my party, with our time about to run out, and constantly surrounded by people who want to kill us.", she spat, "People are all the same. Always fearing what they don't understand."

"I'm not scared of you. I JUST WANT MY GRANDSON SAFE!", Tsunade yelled, shaking with contained tears until Naruto stood up and awkwardly hugged her. "Sorry," he said, looking at Lightning, "I'm not good with physical contact. It usually involves trying to kill me. But from what the kid said, you probably understand." "Yet you understand that we aren't here to hurt you. Otherwise, you would have attacked me when I pinned Naruto down.", Lightning said.

"Aah. Of course. So, your comrades will be arriving soon. Take a seat, Lady...", Tsunade said, pausing for the lady's name. "Lightning Farron. Lady...", Lightning took a seat. "Senju Tsunade, Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure." "Nice to meet you Tsunade.", Lightning saluted her then paused for a second, "You said you found five of them right..?" "Yes. A boy named Hope was located by Uzumaki Naruto, Vanille was located by Inuzuka Kiba, a middle aged man with blond hair and an odd beanie was recently spotted with with Vanille, Hope and Kiba, a middle aged, dark skinned man by Maito Gai and Rock Lee, and a dark haired girl in a sari was seen with Uchiha Sasuke. The ANBU are good for something...", Tsunade said as she chugged yet another bottle of sake.

"But you didn't say that Fang-the girl in the sari was with the others.", Lightning pointed out. "ANBU intelligence was only received recently on the subject of... Fang", Tsunade said. "Is Fang on her way here then?", Lightning continued to question. "She and Uchiha Sasuke are headed toward Naruto's apartment and will probably head here to find Sakura, Sasuke's other teammate for information. Everyone's after you today, huh, Naru-chan?", Tsunade said, a smile tugging at the edge of her mouth. "I'd rather they not.", Naruto said, a rather despondent look on his face. "Happy Birthday is a lie. It's actually Happy Naruto Hunting Day. Join in if you wish.", Naruto said, snitting at the end and turning away toward the wall.

Only to feel Gaara's hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto? You are not a demon just because you have one sealed inside you, and neither am I. I pity all the people who can't look past the Kyuubi and see one of the few people I trust with my life.", Gaara said, patting Naruto unsurely. He had seen Temari do that to Shikamaru when he cried, so he continued, hoping that it would help Naruto.

"You can't let someone else define your fate. You decide your own life.", Lightning looked down at the table as everyone turned towards her. "I tried to defy my fate.. I kept myself to my myself, and adopted a prankster personality through which I would express all my desires for friends, all my desires for love... and a family, but I never revealed the true me to them. They saw an idiot in an orange jumpsuit, and were my friends simply for the entertainment. Once they see me as me, there'll be only Gaara, Shika-baka and Hinata left... These three are the only ones I've trusted with the real me.", Naruto said.

"I'm not about to give up fighting.", was all Lightning said as she left the room. Naruto smiled, but it was not genuine, "You go on doing that. We'll see how far it gets you." "I apologize for my grandson. Living alone for sixteen years, ten of which were spent on the street definitely inhibits mental strength.", Tsunade called after the girl. "Naru-chan, what are we going to do with you...", Tsunade said, before falling into a drunken stupor. "Too... much... like... his... father...", she murmured.

"You don't know the half of it.", Lightning whispered under her breath as she opened the door and left.

* * *

Sasuke snit, "And there's the annoying one. Sakura, meet Fang." "Nice to meet'cha Sakura.", Fang greeted. "Oh wow! A foreigner!", Sakura said, green eyes lighting up like a child on Christmas. "Are you here to see Lady Tsunade?", Sakura asked. "Aah.", Sasuke said, averting his eyes. He thought she was so annoying that he didn't want to look at her... or did he? Fang said, "Well yeah but...have you seen a red haired girl with curly pigtails. She's a foreigner too. Her name's Vanille."

Suddenly, they saw Lightning storming toward them, mumbling, "You don't know the half of it..." "Light!", Fang ran up to her, "Nice to see a familiar face." "Likewise. Wasn't sure you'd make it.", Lightning addressed. "And lose you guys again? No way am I ever doing that.", Fang scoffed. Fang then added, "Per chance, have you seen Vanille or the others?" Lightning nodded, "The leader here said they'd be here so-" "FANG!", Vanille yelled out. Fang turned with wide eyes as Vanille jumped into her, wrapping her arms around Fang's shoulder tight, "Don't do that again!"

"Vanille!", Fang happily hugged her back, "You're alright!" Then Fang let go and tapped her foot to be serious, "We won't be separated ever again right?" Vanille nodded so hard her head might unhinge, "We promised!" "That's right.", Fang winked at her and Vanille smiled.

"Light!", Hope happily called out as he ran up to greet her. Lightning stared for a second, "You're here." Hope nodded, "We're partners right?" Lightning stared at him for a moment then unexpectedly pulled him into a hug, "I'm glad you're okay." Hope froze awkwardly like he did back in Palumpolum and said, "Uhn...and I'm glad you are."

Lightning let him go and Snow walked up, "Hey sis. Nice to see ya." Lightning's nose twitched, "I'm not your sister." Snow chortled, "Whatever you say. Just don't go disappearing on us again." Lightning snit, "You're the one who gets separated and caught." Snow raised his hands in the air and over-acted, "Guilty! Don't shoot!" Lightning's eyebrow twitched and Sazh sighed in exasperation, "At least we're all back together." Vanille turned to face everyone, "Yeah!"

Kiba stood awkwardly in the background while this was all happening. He almost fell asleep when he heard a familiar yell behind him. "YOU FINALLY SHOWED UP, DATTEBAYOOOOOOOOO!", Naruto emerged in an orange jumpsuit with an impossibly large smile on his face. "So this is what he meant...", Lightning said to herself.

Lightning looked back to Fang as she said, "How are your brands looking?" Lightning decided against checking hers for right now and instead watched as Hope looked down on his. Fang turned to Vanille and raised her skirt up to peek.

Kiba stared at Vanille as Fang lifted her skirt up. There was a dark mark on her upper thigh with a tiny red thing in the middle but what was really important was that her muscles were toned perfectly and he could see the sun kissed curve of her hip a little...Daamn, she was hot.

Vanille was slightly pink and when she saw Kiba gaping at her she turned bright red and pushed her skirt down quick, "Fang! Not now..." Fang had a stubborn look on her face, "I want to make sure you aren't too far along!" Fang picked up the cloth again but Vanille pushed her away again, "Check it later then!" Fang got up, "Fine. From what I could see, you're doing okay." Vanille bit her lip, "Alright..." She knew Fang thought it was a little worse than that from Fang's irritated face.

Fang went and checked everyone else's. Sazh was fine, Snow was doing okay, then she stopped at Hope. She took his wrist and observed it closely, placing it right in front of her eyes. She said nothing and Hope murmured with a slightly scared voice, "Is it that bad?" Fang chuckled, "No, I'm just playing with you." Hope stuttered, "Aw...why? That's so mean!" Fang chuckled but Lightning could tell something was off since the start.

Fang stopped in front of Lightning, "Come on now. Don't be shy." Lightning examined the room and saw Kankuro in a corner, creepily staring at her. She gave him a death glare then turned to Fang, "You can check it later." Fang knew not to mess with Lightning and sighed, "Fine then."

Kiba broke the silence by saying, "Hey, shouldn't we be talking to the Hokage or something... right?" Lightning snit but said nothing. Naruto ushered them all in, loudly exclaiming his greatness while Lightning shot him a look. Tsunade was asleep until Naruto yelled, "BAA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAN! EVERYONE'S HERE!" She punched him through the window. Lightning shot Tsunade a look and Tsunade winked. Fang whistled at the impressive blow and Hope ran to the window.

"You okay?", he called out. "As fine as fine could be.", Naruto said, floating outside the window with his flying jutsu. (A/N: D: See New Chance for an explanation... I thought it was cool) "Wait... whoops..." Naruto said as the rest of the Konoha 12 stared at him. "Well... looks like I have.. explaining to do...? Goddamn self-preservation."

Hope cocked his head in confusion. l'Cie can fly here? Naruto jumped on to the windowsill and walked in nonchalantly, "I'm just gonna go..." "HOKAGE-SAMA! THE VILLAGERS REQUEST AN AUDIENCE WITH YOU!", someone said from outside the door. "...Now.", Naruto said and jumped out the window again. Hope stared out the window again, "...Wow..."

"The Kyuubi brat incinerated the apartment complex where he lived and hurt a bunch of the villagers!", the ringleader yelled, "For the good of the village, I propose the death penalty!" Hope slowly crept behind Snow at the sight of them. Vanille stuck her tongue out, "That's not fair!"

"Che. It's the Kyuubi brat. No one would care if he died, and the demon would die as well. Two birds with one stone... or should I say... foxes?", the villager said and laughed at his own lame joke. Fang pounced up to him and placed her lance at his neck, "Take that back." Vanille raised a hand out to Fang, "Fang, you-" "No! I've had enough of this shit!", Fang hissed.

"Why do you want to save the brat? Oh, you must be the foreigners who are going to revive the demon! Of course, you want the boy alive!", the villager said, Fang slicing him across the chest at that. She hissed, "We are NEVER going to summon Ragnarok again!" Vanille gasped as Fang leapt away and stood in front of her.

"Um... Ragnarok?", Hinata asked. Everyone turned to Hinata, who had not been noticed until now. "I followed Naruto here." She said, immediately alleviating everyone's concerns... except for Neji's. Fang snapped, "Don't play dumb with me! You won't get us to summon that thing!" Vanille put her hand over Fang's on her staff, "I don't think they know what Ragnarok is..." "Yeah. We don't.", Sasuke said.

Lightning stepped up next to Fang, "But if they decided we're their enemy then we have to fight back." Sazh reached for his guns, "All the world's against us." Hope looked at the people solemnly then backed away from everyone a little bit without being noticed.

Tsunade stared at the retreating boy, "Hope? Why are you backing away?" Hope looked at her then away and at the floor, "I...it's just..." Snow spoke for him, "We don't want to hurt innocent people." "Aah. Neither do we. Sometimes.", Tsunade said while cracking her knuckles and staring pointedly at the insolent villager, who is still alive. "BUT THE DEMON DOO-", The man began, only to be stopped... by Tsunade's fist. Needless to say, he nearly flew out the window.

He would have if they hadn't been a synergy shield to stop him.

Snow looked down and saw Hope with his hand outstretched towards the guy. Hope hesitantly began to walk forward towards the guy. He looked up at him then down at the ground, "I'm sorry." Hope raised his hand again and cast a Cure spell to heal the guy's wound.

Lee ran up to Hope, "THAT IS SOO YOUTHFUL MY YOUTH-FILLED FRIEND! YESH, THAT IS A TRULY YOUTHFUL ACT!" "FORGIVENESS IS YOUUUUUUUUUUUUTH!", Gai yelled. They pulled Hope, who was suffocating from over-exposure to youth, into a sunset hug.

Vanille giggled then walked in between her party and the other villagers, "See, we aren't here to hurt you!" "Yeah... we believe you!", one villager yelled, and then was silenced by the rest. "Who says we should trust you foreigners?", the ring leader piped up from the floor. "We never said you had to.", Hope said, making Light smile a little, "Just know that we don't want to hurt you."

"But if you threaten us, then we won't have any mercy.", Lightning added, her cool composure restored. "Che, like you would dare to attack us before our leader!", the insolent villager from before scoffed. "Actually... I lead the ninja. You guys are led by the daimyo. So, by all means, kick his ass!" ,Tsunade piped. Snow chuckled, "We might take you up on that later!" He received a glare from Lightning for that poorly timed joke.

"Can we get back to our business now Tsunade?", Lightning said, still glaring at Snow. "Yes... I believe so... The first thing would be to find you all places to live. One minute... NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", Tsunade yelled out the window. The slightly rumpled fox boy jumped through the window once again, landing in a nice guy pose. "Hope? You're fine at Naruto's apartment, right?", Tsunade asked. Hope nodded, "Yeah, he's cool.", giving Naruto a little smile. "But uhm...can some of my friends stay nearby...?", he added sheepishly.

"I think it's best that Vanille and Fang stay together.", Kiba spoke up. Fang slung her arm around Vanille's shoulder, "Of course!" "And from what Vanille said, Hope and Lightning should be near each other, but Snow and Lightning shouldn't.", Kiba continued, looking away. Lightning shot Vanille a look and she looked away like Kiba. Fang took note of that. "It is for the best.", Snow chortled. "He could stay with me.", Sazh said. Kiba looked at Sazh, "Who are you staying with?"

"WE WILL HELP OUR YOUTHFUL COMRADE!", Lee and Gai yelled in unison. "But doesn't Lee live with his parents?", Shino asked. Everyone stared at Shino, "I came here with Hinata. I didn't know what in hell she was doing. So I came." "NO, MY YOUTHFUL FRIENDS, I LIVE WITH GAI-SENSEI!", Lee yelled. "Explains the screwed up-ness..", Naruto scoffed.

Everyone then proceeded to stare at Naruto. "WHO THE F*** ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH UZUMAKI NARUTO?", Sakura yelled, holding her fist in front of Naruto's face. Hope cocked his head, "This is Naruto...right?" "Umm... I'm Uzumaki Naruto, age 16, blood type B, my favorite color is orange...", Naruto began. "That's enough, Naruto.", Tsunade said. Hope muttered in confusion, "You told me you hated orange..."

"I did, Hope, and that's the truth. But these wonderful people here don't know shit about the truth, so we're gonna keep this quiet, ne?", Naruto whispered in Hope's ear. Hope nodded, still a bit confused but happy that Naruto trusted him. Naruto raised his voice to normal level, "Baa-chan, if we're gonna reveal that at all, we do it tonight." "That sounds right. I want everyone but Naruto and the foreigners to leave the room. I have to speak to them.", Tsunade yelled. Vanille shot Kiba a look and said, "See you later...?" "And Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro!", Tsunade yelled as an afterthought. "Yeah. You and Fang can bunk with me, so definitely.", Kiba said, smiling. Vanille grinned, "Good! Ciao!" Fang smirked at the exchange.

"Ok, I have questions for you. I saw Hope using some strange "magic", per se, to fight off the villagers, with a glowing seal located on his wrist. Also, I heard many of you called Jinchuriki. So I need to know everything. We can only help you if you cooperate.", Tsunade said. She gave Naruto and Gaara a look, "Both Naruto and Gaara have demons sealed in them as well. And Naru-chan, off with the genjutsu."

Naruto dispelled the genjutsu, revealing a rather pale and worn boy dressed all in black. He smiled at them and said, "Good day, huh?" Hope smiled, "This is what I was talking about earlier." Naruto rolled his eyes, "I told you they didn't know shit about the truth, but you HAD to go and be like that." Naruto punched Hope's arm playfully. "Owww.", Hope whined, "Heeey..." "Che. Wuss.", Naruto replied. Lightning snit a little but Hope grinned at Naruto being genuine.

Then Lightning looked up at Tsunade, "What do you mean by demons...?" "The Shukaku no Ichibi, or One Tailed Raccoon, is currently sealed within Sabaku no Gaara, and nearly drove him insane with it's power. The Kyuubi no Youko, or the Nine Tailed Fox, is responsible for Uzumaki Naruto's mental instability and inability to conduct social relationships with others, as expected of someone of his age and stature. Basically, although these two demons gave the boys power, the boys gave up their mental stability as babies to something they were taught was dead. These two boys were picked by their own fathers, one out of malice and one out of goodwill, to bear the demon in order to save the village. Both were orphaned as a direct result of the demon's attack and both had regular assassination attempts made on them from the age of six onwards, Naruto from even earlier. That is why the people were attempting to burn down Naruto's apartment, as today is the day the Yondaime Hokage sealed the Fox inside his newborn son. And they found you, Hope."

Hope gulped and instinctively pulled his wristband up over his brand. Tsunade continued, "The villagers saw the brand on your arm, causing them to believe that you, Hope, were also a demon container. However, they forgot that all demons are sealed into the navel, like both Gaara's and Naruto's. But being commoners, they weren't expected to know. Then both Snow and Vanille jumped in to protect Hope, and the skills they exhibited were thought to be demon powers as well. Then Kiba stopped the fight, thankfully, and Gai and Lee showed up and stuff happened."

Tsunade took an exasperated breath, "So, the entire village thinks you're trying to set Naruto's demon free to ravage the whole village." "Kyuu-chan would like that...", Naruto said from his spot in the corner, "He's been trying to get me to do that for about ten years now..."

Hope said, "You've had a seal on for that long? How come you haven't-" Vanille covered Hope's mouth before he could continue, "He means how come you haven't...let it free yet? Right!" She chuckled nervously and Lightning stepped in, "Listen, we don't want anything to do with demons. We were cursed too."

"Heh. The seal is meant to last a lifetime. That way, when I die, Kyuu-chan dies too. That's why they want me dead. They don't care if it means erasing the legacy of their precious Yondaime. They just want me gone." He looked to Lightning, "And, Lightning-sama, I can understand if you don't want Hope or your other friends to have anything to do with me. If you'll excuse me now, I have to go clean up my apartment.", Naruto said this all smiling, and walked out the door, heading towards his "house".

"Naruto wait!", Hope called after him, "That's not what Lightning meant!" Fang snorted, "He's right. We just don't want anything to do with our demons. There are quite a few where we come from." Snow said, "And unfortunately, we were stuck getting cursed by them."

Lightning began, "There are these things back in Cocoon and Pulse called fal'Cie. They're powerful beings that think they can do whatever they want." Fang picked it up from there, "They like to use people to do their biding, the slimy things. So they curse them and give them this thing called a Focus." Vanille said, "A Focus is basically what they want you to do and you have to do it or else...bad things happen." Sazh added, "The people they curse are called l'Cie. l'Cie are given magic powers and enhanced abilities so that they can fulfill this Focus." Hope looked down at his wrist, "They distinguish l'Cie by branding them with a mark.", he showed Tsunade his, "That's what this is."

Gaara took a breath, "That's an interesting seal..." Fang said, "It's the brand of a Pulse l'Cie." She turned her shoulder to him, "I've got one too see?" Snow held up his arm, "We all do." Sazh pointed to his and there was disdain in his voice, "All Pulse l'Cie."

Gaara paused for a second. "Wow... then you're like us, in a way. Meaning, you're hated because you're burdened with something you never had a choice about. I apologize for Naruto's actions earlier. I nearly went insane from the amount of power that Shukaku had, nine times that power must be hard to control... I better go find him before some innocent people suffer.. or he himself does."

"Gaara.", Lightning said as he passed by. "Yes?" he asked, stopping to answer her question. "Thank you. Tell your friend that I apologize.", she whispered so that only Gaara could hear. Although Snow did hear it and chortled a little to himself. "Aah. I'm sure Naruto has no hard feelings. Our demons always drive us insane on the respective days they were sealed into us. He's probably getting an earful right now, poor guy.", Gaara said, allowing himself a small smile before walking out to find his friend.

Temari and Kankuro were about to leave, but Tsunade made them stay. "We need you here. You're the only two who have first-hand experience living with an unstable Jinchuriki, other than Shikamaru and Asuka, who I have positioned in Naruto's apartment. If anything, Asuka'll get him back to normal.",Tsunade said. "That kid is like a little sister to him...", she murmured. Lightning's eyebrows lowered but it went unnoticed.

"All of you, go home with the people I've assigned: Fang and Vanille with Kiba, Sazh and Snow with Lee and Gai and Hope and Lightning... you two join the Naruto task force. Knowing him, he probably has his place as clean and tidy as he can possibly get it. We'll need to find him a new place... again. But otherwise, spread the word to the ninjas you met earlier to meet at Training Ground 24 at 6 pm. Believe it or not, most are oblivious to the real Naruto, and do not know anything about his demon. They figured Gaara out during a rather... disturbing episode a couple years ago.", Tsunade announced.

"We'll be right on it.", Fang said, Sazh and Snow nodding. Fang turned to Vanille, "Let's go meet with your friend then." Vanille nodded happily, "Yeah!" They went to leave when Lightning whispered to Fang, "I need to talk to you during this meeting later." Fang smirked, "I knew it. Alright."

Lightning backed up and Hope obediently went to her side as usual, "I know where Naruto's is. You wanna go?" Lightning looked from him to Tsunade. She gave her one last look then said, "Let's go."

"Hokage-sama, if you don't mind... we're gonna send Kanku-chan with Lightning and Hope, and I'll go room with Shika-kun. Just cause. Not like there's anything going on between us or anything.", Temari said.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. What ever helps you sleep at night, MARI-CHAN!", Kankuro yelled, "That's what he calls you in your looooove letters!" "Oi, Kanku-baka! YOU'RE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!", Temari yelled and promptly proceeded to beat Kankuro into the ground, "And if you look at Lightning-sama inappropriately, I WILL KILL YOU EVEN MORE!"

Needless to say, Kankuro did not try to look at Lightning inappropriately even once. Mostly cause Hope was glaring. And Hope is right behind Sasuke in glaring.

Lightning snorted and Hope looked away from Kankuro and said, "Alright." He walked out the door, Lightning following close behind and Kankuro creeping behind her.

"Have fun, kiddoes, get my grand-brat back safe and we'll see you at 6." Tsunade said and waved. Only Hope and Vanille waved back.


	4. Chapter 4: Dying of the Light

Lightning laid on the bed Naruto had provided for her, fully clad and awake to be wary like she normally was. Naruto was an interesting kid, hiding himself away like that. She sat up and went to the door. Hope had broken him down too. He has a talent for that. She went to the open doorway of Hope's room and saw the boy was fast asleep. She lingered for a moment until she heard something in the kitchen. She put a hand on her gun blade's handle and slowly proceeded forward to the kitchen.

Naruto was standing in front of the small stove, warming up some milk in an ancient looking, rusted pot. "Hey.", he said nonchalantly, "Couldn't sleep?" Lightning removed her hand from the handle, "I always keep watch at night." "Aah. As do I. Assassins often feel safe under the cover of night.", he said, stirring the warming milk while he spoke. "That Hope is an amazing little kid, ne?", he said, changing the subject. "Yeah.", Lightning said, sitting down in a chair. She unhooked her holster and dropped it to the floor.

"Armed, were you? Not surprised. If I didn't think better of you, I'd say you were coming to get me like everyone else.", he said, chuckling to himself at some long untold joke that he had used to pacify himself far in the past. "If I wanted to get you, you'd be dead.", she said outright. Then she paused and said, "But you matter to Hope."

"Huh. That's something new. I haven't mattered much to anyone before. It feels... good.", Naruto said, removing the milk from the stove and pouring it into a chipped cup. He brought it to his lips and drank until there was none left, "You know it doesn't taste as expired if you boil it right?" "That and if you put pieces of stale bread in it, you've got a soldier's meal.", she added.

There was a pause until Lightning broke it by saying, "Listen...about before..." Naruto just looked at her as she attempted to say what she wanted to, "It was...wrong of me to say that. What I meant was...you see...we have our own demons and we shouldn't be troubled by anything more than we have."

"Aah. I can understand that. I thought about it myself. I was being irresponsible... I'm sorry. Gaara must have told you, Kyuubi's been itching for a kill all day long... and I couldn't think about anything else. Insanity and a demon all at once is a tough opponent...", Naruto trailed off and looked out the the hole in the wall the villagers made, "That would make a good window, don't you think?" Lightning slightly nodded, "Maybe we can trick Snow into fixing it. He's too simple minded."

There was another pause.

Lightning exhaled and said, "I want to keep my promise. That we'd make it out okay without any more trouble. Hope's already been through a lot and in such a short amount of time. And I didn't help at first...I owe it to him to make things right." She glanced down the hall, looking towards his door no doubt.

"I can see you care about him... He is a good kid. If what he's said is true, I don't think the poor guy can take more without... becoming like... me.", Naruto said, shivering slightly at the revelation brought on by his last thought.

"He was like you.", Lightning said then fell quiet.

"He was? You mean... he became who he is now... from where I am?", Naruto ask, hand moving instinctively to his stomach, hovering above the seal, "Maybe... just maybe... I could trust people like that one day." "I'm sure you already do. Gaara is one such person. And you mentioned others.", Lightning said, "It's hard but it will happen. It happened for Hope and I. It'll happen for you."

"And you've got more people you can trust. Hope already did, and I do now too.", she stretched her hand to him from across the table, "Call me Light."

"Of course. Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime, grandson of the Godaime, great-great-grandson of the Shodaime and great-great-grandnephew of the Nidaime. It's good to meet you Light. I think I could possibly trust you in the future.", Naruto smiled genuinely at the end, and looked at her for a minute. "Thanks for sitting up with me... I appreciate it... Not trying to be impolite, but could you stay a little longer? I kinda.. like it... having someone else with me...", Naruto said haltingly.

Lightning's lip curled into one of her rare smiles, "Sure." Then it dropped and she became serious again, "There's one last thing I need to tell you about though. You left before you could hear it, and there's something about Hope..."

"What? He's all right, right?", Naruto asked, suddenly feeling a rush of worry. Lightning paused, her pensive face betraying a tinge of sadness. "Hope-and I-are l'Cie.", she said, "I know you don't know what they are so let me explain."

After a little bit of explaining she murmured, "Something we didn't tell anyone was that we have a limited amount of time until our Focus must be completed. But we can't complete it-our Focus is to destroy our home. Kill Cocoon."

"That sounds like something Kyuu-chan'd do. He's been telling me that I should destroy this place like he wanted to since I was old enough to walk.", Naruto said, "But if you have a time limit... that's a different story."

He paused, "Any way I could help? And... just as a warning... there are some sick bastards known as the Akatsuki who are after Gaara and me. You'll know 'em on sight. Creepers in black cloaks with red clouds on them. They want to kill us to extract the demons. We're trying to kill them before they kill us. Just as advice, stay away from me and Gaara, well, especially me in public. If you hang around where I am... let's just say... you'll never get to finish your Focus. I suppose if you had to die, you'd rather die in Cocoon...", Naruto said, eyes dimming.

"I won't worry too much about them, but thanks for the heads up.", Lightning looked downcast, "I have more to worry about. You see, we won't just die if we fail to fulfill our Focus. We'll become monsters. Our soul eternally damned to wander with our regrets in a horrible shell, and if we're lucky, we'd get destroyed completely without hope of any salvation."

"Wow. Being hunted down by villagers pales in comparison...", Naruto said, laughing, "I doubt it'll come down to that though. You'll get it done, and all of you are nothing short of amazing... You'll get it done."

"We won't. We're defying our fate.", Lightning said flat out, "We stayed on Pulse to avoid Cocoon. We won't destroy our home. However..." She paused then continued, "A little while before we ended up here, something happened to Hope..." "Aah. What exactly?", Naruto asked, slightly worried for the boy he had become slightly protective of.

Lightning had to force it forward, "He almost died."

"Did you see his brand?", she asked. "No... He told me he had been cursed, but he didn't show me it.", Naruto said, "But from what the villagers saw, looks like there was a big red spot in the middle." "That big red spot is what tells you how much time he has left. At first, it was never even there. Then it appears and opens up until the imprint of a red eye is there. Then there's no going back.", Lightning's voice was harder than usual.

"Oh... I'll keep an eye on him... We don't have anything like that. We're just stuck for life.", he said. "His has gone into that stage. You can see the deep red of the final stage and some of the pupil already.", Lightning exhaled, "It's taken a lot out of him. If it wasn't for Alexander, Hope would have gone then." She paused, staring at the table in front of her.

"If he suffers another big shock, physical or emotional, then it'll be over."

"Alexander?", Naruto asked, "Is that his demon?" "It's his Eidolon.", Lightning said, "They are guardians that help l'Cie from the brink of certain death by giving them a choice. Die by their hands now or fight back and find a way to continue on." "Aah... that's like when Kyuu-chan offers me his power whenever I'm close to death..", Naruto said, beginning to empathize more for their situation.

"Hope wanted us to leave him behind because he didn't want anybody to hurt because of him. Can you believe that?", she exhaled sharply, "He was about to die and he still worried about us more than himself." "I could see that... he seems like that kind of person.", Naruto said, chuckling. "After Alexander helped us save him, we decided we needed to find a way to get these brands off and fast. It seemed impossible and we only had a few places to look. That's when Vanille found this stone that took us here.", Lightning reflected.

"We have seal masters here... They might be able to help you. You guys just missed the best one of all time though...", Naruto said. "I was hoping you'd know how to help us.", Lightning said, "But there's one thing I want to ask of you if it doesn't." "Aah. My dad was the last great seal master, but Jiraiya's teaching me with the scrolls I've found in the clan compound. But ask away... anything for a fellow comrade...", Naruto said, attempting to channel Hope's generosity.

"It's become apparent that Hope could die any minute.", she swallowed hard, "I want to make sure that we at least make it so that it doesn't happen sooner then it has to. If we could keep him from harm and make sure he is optimistic, then at least there won't be any regrets." "Aah. I could help... Hope's taught me a lot these past few days.", Naruto said.,"We'll help you keep him safe. Face it, the kid's too cute to not protect him."

Lightning's eyes flicked up at him again, "One last thing. If by chance I go before him, tell him that I want him to keep going on. To keep the hope he was named for. Maybe then my promise will be kept either way." "I'll keep him alive and kicking until he's completed his Focus.", Naruto said, eyes alight, "You don't have to worry about it."

"I'll hold you to it.", she smiled again, "If there's anything I can do for you, I will. I know you have an important meeting later." "Yeah... I guess. Surprisingly, only three, including me, out of the twelve of us know about Kyuu-chan. It's sad, really, some of these guys are the smartest people I know.", Naruto said, shaking his head, "But then again, all that propaganda we were fed in the Academy said that Kyuu-chan was dead, so I wouldn't blame them wholly." Lightning nodded and listened quietly, much like Naruto had done for her.

"Ehh, I'm more worried about how they'll react. Hokage-sama brought out all my medical shit and she's going to show them that as well... They'll be out to kill me by 6:30.", Naruto said, easing himself out of the chair, "Well, it's about 5:20, and they wanted me there early. Wanna go wake up Hope?"

"Okay. I'll be back with him in a second. Or maybe a little longer, he likes to push anyone away and sleep longer if he can.", she chuckled under her breath a little as she put her holster back on and left the room.

Naruto smiled up at the ceiling, "They were right... Friends can be found, if you're willing to look." (A/N: D: Credit for this quote is for Alex, a violent little brother of mine. M: He sounds cool and philosophical x3)

* * *

Tsunade cleared her throat, "All right everyone, you have been called here to witness the revealing of four S class secrets, all pertaining to Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke didn't have to speak very loud to make himself heard over the awkward silence, "What, did the dobe go on a rampage and kill a buttload of people?"

Tsunade smirked. "..two could play at this game..", she thought. "Actually, no.", she said, "But several members of his family did and I expect him to continue the tradition." Sasuke sweat-dropped.

Hope tugged on Lightning's hand and said, "I don't think he'd do that." She pushed his chin with her thumb affectionately, "Shhh...let them talk."

"Anyway, the first (and second, really) pertain to the Kyuubi. I'm sure you were all told that it was murdered by the Yondaime. He did not murder the Kyuubi. In fact, he sealed it into his newborn son and died of the side effects of the jutsu. The Yondaime himself was the result of an... embarrassing mistake between myself and Jiraiya, which makes Naruto my grandson, and, for all it's worth, a direct descendant of 4 of the 5 Hokages this village has seen.", Tsunade said.

"And as for the Kyuubi, I think Nara here has something to say about it.", Tsunade said, figuratively pushing Shikamaru into the spotlight. "Well... the Yondaime was afraid that Naruto wasn't going to be born before the Kyuubi got there. He needed another boy, born recently enough that his chakra coils wouldn't be fully developed, that could take Naruto's place at a moment's notice, if he was not born, or died during birth. I, Shikamaru Nara, am quite proud to admit that I was the first alternate for the sealing of Kyuubi, and did everything in my power to protect the genius I see as a little brother. However, being... two weeks, give or take a few days, older did not help much in my efforts, and I usually ended up helping him recuperate."

"In the pictures in the Academy books, if you look closely enough, you will see that the Yondaime is, in fact, holding two boys.", Shikamaru said, and whipped out a textbook for the purpose of proving himself. Even Sasuke had to admit he now saw two heads. "So, out of respect and love towards my adoptive little brother," , Shikamaru said, placing great emphasis on the words 'respect' and 'love', "I brought this."

Shikamaru pulled a blue and orange book out of his backpack and opened it. In all the slots, three were pictures of Naruto as a baby, a toddler and a small child. "Why isn't he wearing that retarded orange jumpsuit?", Sakura asked. "And I thought you were the genjutsu master...", Naruto muttered. "Around the age of five, I discovered that I was pretty damn good at doing genjutsus. So I used them for pretty much everything. Right, Shika nii-baka?", Naruto said, rolling his eyes at Sakura. "What?", Sakura asked, confused.

"You have never met the real Uzumaki Naruto. To this day, the only people who have met him are the Nara family, Hinata, Hope, and Light. Now, Hokage-sama used her magical powers of leadership and duty to this village to convince me that he should meet you all properly. And, by the way, I hate orange... and the phrase 'dattebayo'." Hope smiled a little for both himself and Light.

"And that brings us to the fourth point. Sarutobi has Naruto working directly under his control from the time you began the academy, to the time of his death. Naruto, as the Naras maintain, was low Chuunin level in all three areas at the time he started the Academy, and passed the Genin test at six. However, he was sent on a mission to collect information about all the students in his graduating class, in order to help Sarutobi monitor their mental and psychological development. And the kid you saw goof off, and cut class was a genjutsu. He was quite far ahead of you, as were Shikamaru and Chouji. The three of them are, at this point, high Jounin level at the very least.", Tsunade said, causing some people to stare at Naruto, who was twiddling his thumbs.

"That's pretty much it. Naruto, release the genjutsu, and go meet your friends. For real, this time.", Tsunade said, ruffling his hair.

When he released the genjutsu, she ended up with her hand on his shoulder.

Naruto shook his head and walked lazily over to Hope and Lightning, "So... you guys wanna go find something edible?" Hope nodded so hard that Lightning snorted while he spoke, "You kidding? All we ate back on Pulse was coconuts and Behemoth liver! Do you know how disgusting that is?", he stuck his tongue out for emphasis.

"Behemoth Liver?", Naruto asked, chuckling, "Even the name sounds horrrible." He heard thumping noises behind him and turned around to see Sakura with her fist close to his face. "Oh hello, Sakura-san! How are you today?", he asked, while ducking and dodging her punches with ease.

"Why didn't you tell us that all this horrible shit was happening to you?", Sakura yelled while holding his medical files, "Patient: Naruto Uzumaki, Age: 4, Reason for Admission: Beaten and assaulted (A/N: D: we know which way, right Sebastian?) by a group of male villagers, who were all found dead at the scene. Uzumaki Naruto, Age 7, Assaulted again by gang members on his way home from school. Unconscious from blood loss at time of admission. Patient admitted by Hyuuga Satoshi, on behalf of... Hyuuga Hinata...? Do you two have something to tell us?", Sakura's mood changed markedly, while staring at Hinata and Naruto. Everyone else, except Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata (who already knew about this), was still stuck on the assault part... especially Sasuke.

"I met Hinata when we were about four... at a park... she was getting made fun of... I stepped in... we became friends... The end. Can I leave now?", Naruto said, turning his head toward Tsunade at the last sentence. Lightning smirked as she came to the same realization some others might have had. And then some, as she looked down at Hope and then to Hinata. "No. If you're gonna become Hokage, then you stay.", Tsunade said, not expecting Naruto to walk away.

Naruto took a couple steps away, but decided against leaving, "But then again, gotta keep the family tradition alive. What a bother." "Damn, duude, you sound just like Shikamaru!", Kiba yelled, "That's so weird!" Vanille looked a little downcast after the whole speech but she still stood by Kiba and Fang courageously. Fang put her arm around Vanille, knowing exactly what she was thinking about.

"Well, more often than not, I was with Shika-baka, so I guess it rubs off..?", Naruto said, scratching the back of his head, "And as for the relationship status between Hinata and I? I really don't know. You'd have to ask her, really."

"Aww, is loverboy afraid of his feelings?", Ino said, punching Naruto in the shoulder. "Ino, I have a lot of blackmail on you from when you and Chouji hung out at the Naras' place with me... and I don't think you want things to... spread... correct?", Naruto said, smirking.

Lightning took the opportunity to walk up to Tsunade, "Can I talk to you for a second?" "Of course. Seeing as my grandson is quite trusting of you, I suppose I should grant your request.", Tsunade said, smiling. "You said before that Naruto had someone who was like a little sister. Asuka I believe it was.", Lightning stated.

"Aah. That's Shikamaru's sister-", she began and was cut off by an angry yell from Shikamaru's direction. "Suka-chan! You made it!", Naruto said, and was immediately tackled by the younger girl. "Wouldn't miss this party for anything!", she yelled, "Mari nee-chan's here too! YAY!", she ran off toward Temari.

Shikamaru rubbed his head and yawned, "Nine year olds can be so temperamental. Ugh." "Wow, Shikamaru! you never mentioned a little sister!", Sakura said. Asuka then turned around and faced her brother, shaking out of repressed anger, "You never mentioned me?" "Umm.. yes I did! Yes I did! Right, Chouji?", Shikamaru said quickly, eliciting a laugh from everyone else assembled.

Snow saw Sazh and Lightning both in a melancholy mood and pulled them into a bear hug, "Aww...it'll be okay." Sazh snit while Lightning punched Snow to the ground and away, quickly regaining her position next to Tsunade.

"I'm not gonna take a side. But just between us, Suka, he doesn't really.", Naruto said and chuckled, "Don't kill him now. I still need someone who I can willing spew my deep, dark secrets at." "But don't you have Hinata nee-chan for that?", Asuka asked innocently. Naruto looked away, "Can we not talk about that right now? Please?"

Lightning watched with deep eyes as Shikamaru and Asuka 'fought' with each other. She turned to Tsunade again and said, "I need to talk to you later. Count on it." She left before Tsunade could reply and went to Fang, "Now." Fang sighed and released Vanille, "Why don't you and Kiba go out for food by yourselves?"

Vanille blushed and looked to Kiba sheepishly. Kiba fought to restrain the blush he knew was coming. "This is what you get from spending time with Hinata.", he thought and said, "So.. Vanille... you wanna go get food?" Vanille nodded, keeping her eyes to the ground, "I'd like that."

Meanwhile, Sakura and Ino were busy questioning Hinata if Naruto knew how she felt. She nodded, "The Hyuuga Elders told me to cut all relationships off with him, because they discovered that we were hanging out at a park near the house every afternoon. He stopped speaking to me for a while afterwards outside of school until I managed to convince him right before graduation that it was the Elders. He's still having problems trusting me though, I guess most kids who were treated that badly don't trust that well...", she trailed off, looking at the ground.

"What did he say, though?", Sakura asked, "You know, when you told him?" "He said that he didn't know if what he felt was love. He told me that he thought of me differently than he thought of Asuka, or Yoshino-sama, but seeing as he had no other women playing a significant role in his life, he had nothing else to compare me with.", Hinata said. "But I thought he was going after Sakura-chan?", Ino said, confusedly.

"That was Naruto's twisted way of getting revenge on me for leaving him alone.", Hinata said, tears welling up. "He thinks of you as a friend, nothing more, nothing less.", she said, looking at Sakura. "Oh... that's a relief, but I can't help thinking what would have happened if I had taken him up on his offer of a date.", Sakura said.

"I wouldn't have gone.", Naruto said, from behind her. "I knew you wanted Sasuke, that's why I picked you. I knew Hinata would be angry, but you wouldn't take me up on the offer.", he said, pushing his hair out of his eyes, "Sorry about that... I didn't mean to make you angry or anything." Sakura smiled, "Thanks, Naruto."

Lightning pulled Fang aside, far enough away so that no one could hear them. "What did you want to talk about Light?", Fang said nonchalantly. "Cut the crap.", Lightning commanded, turning and giving Fang a dark glare. Fang continued to feign indifference, "To what crap are you referring?" "Don't make me punch you again.", Lightning threatened, "You know exactly what I'm talking about." Fang huffed, "Fine I do. What about it?" Lightning air punched over Fang's shoulder, "What about it? We both know that we've got no time left!"

Fang hissed, "Of course we know that! I told you that!" Lightning sneered, "What you don't want to tell anyone is that Hope and Vanille are at the brink of it!" Fang exhaled, "I know. I don't want to admit it." Lightning spat, "You and Vanille wanted to keep us from Oerba and the reality you don't want to face, even if it meant killing all of us. Now we're stuck here, and I'm not about to give up looking for ways to get us out of this. Even if you try to stop me."

Lightning began to trudge angrily away when Fang said, "I'm not about to stop you. I told you once and I'll say it a million times if I have to. I'll do anything for Vanille." Lightning turned around, "Saying pretty things won't change anything." Fang stepped forward and shrieked back, "You're just saying that because Vanille and I are the cause of your sister getting crystallized! You're the one who won't face reality!"

Fang unsheathed her staff, readying for the inevitable fight. Lightning put a hand to her gun blade's handle but said, "I am facing reality. I'll find a way to get us out of this and back to Cocoon, whether you and Vanille join the rest of us or not." With that, Lightning slipped away and back to everyone else. Fang spat at the ground and stuck a tree with her lance in rage, so hard that it fell over and sent a crashing sound throughout the entire training ground. "I just don't want Vanille to be a Cie'th damnit...", she whispered to herself as she pulled her staff out of the tree.

Lightning saw Hope standing by Naruto, snatched him by the hand, and kept walking, "We're leaving." "What? But I-" Lightning interrupted him, "You're still tired from all the casting you had to do today. It took me a while to get you up as it is, so we're done socializing for now."

Naruto turned around once he felt Hope's presence leaving his side. "I'm going with them. Tell Obaa-chan I said bye.", he whispered in Shikamaru's ear and followed the two figures out of the training grounds.

Hope knew not to argue with Light, but there was something bothering her and he couldn't just ignore it. "Light, is something-" "It's fine.", she shushed him with her louder, harsh tone. He lowered his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something when someone said from above them, "Of course something's up. Foolish child."

Lightning whipped her gun blade out as fast as her name, stepped in front of Hope protectively, and held it in the ready position, "Who's there?" "Hehehe... Little Nine Tails warned you ahead of time to be wary, eh? Not a problem. We'll get him eventually, and you, pretty lady, will watch him scream and die as he gets the demon extracted from him. Then, we will truly have won.", the man said, laughing.

"I wouldn't bet your life on it.", Lightning spat as she shot at where the voice was coming from. Hope whipped out his boomerang and cast a quick Thunder spell to brighten up the area to see the guy better and maybe even hit him.

"Heh. Is that all you've got? Pitiful. If this is what his comrades are like, the kid'll probably fall over the moment I touch him.", the man scoffed. Lightning snit as she cast a couple of Ruingas in the man's direction. Hope joined in with a loud Thundaga that sent a thunder clap throughout the area. "You're Akatsuki right?", Lightning said as she shot with her gun blade some more.

"So what if we are?", a blue, shark-like man asked, after stepping into the light, "Shouldn't matter either way. At the end of the day, we're all after Uzumaki's head, aren't we?" Hope snarled, "We aren't about to let you get it." He cast another Thundaga spell around the area. Shortly after it hit, Hope stumbled to his left a little, tired from using big spells in a short amount of time, especially after the recent events.

"Just as a question:", the other man asked, finally stepping into the light as his partner had done, "Why do you care for the Nine Tails brat?"

"He is a demon, after all, no matter what anyone else says."

This really pissed Hope off. He shrieked as he unleashed a Firaga in the direction of the guy. Lightning was busing assaulting the shark headed guy with her gun blade and turned when she heard Hope's yell. The shorter man, whose eyes were suddenly glowing red, held Hope in a headlock, "Too slow, child. Maybe the Nine Tails will come to save you. He does value his comrades too much, poor boy."

"Doesn't anyone value the few friends they can get?", they heard, and Itachi felt killer intent rolling off in waves from a nearby person with strangely large chakra coils. "If you weren't another all-popular Uchiha, you'd know why I treasure the few bonds I can make.", Naruto snarled, his eyes turning red to match those of the Uchiha, but without the tomoe and shuriken shape of the Sharingan.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: Bunshin Daibakuuha!", Naruto yelled, and immediately clones of himself exploded, causing the man to jump back several feet, gaining ground for himself and the l'Cie.

Naruto created another clone. "Go warn baa-chan. I can hold them off for another hour and a half at the most. We need Shikamaru, Chouji, Sai, and... yes... Sasuke. Find the teme and tell him that the quarry is in the hole, and it's his choice if he wants to get it. Go.", he said to 'himself'.

The clone ran off into the distance. He turned hurriedly to Hope, who Itachi had dropped. "Light, do either of you have any medical skills?", Naruto asked. Hope nodded hurriedly, "Yeah. Why?" Lightning stepped in front of them, shooting to keep the Akatsuki at bay.

"You? Okay, Hope, stay out of the battle. I think Light and I can take them, but we need you to heal us. And Hope, one thing. I think we'll be fine. GO to the clearing. Everyone should be still there. Ask for Asuka Nara or Hinata Hyuuga, and get one or both of them, if possible. They're kinda like my triggers. They can get me out of my demon state. Please, Hope? I don't want you to die here, and I sure as hell don't want to either. I'm the final step in their plan for world domination.", Naruto said.

Hope hesitated but Lightning commanded, "Go Hope. I have minimal healing skills too so we'll be fine until they come. Stay with Snow when you get there." Hope nodded and Lightning blocked any blows as he began to run off. He looked back once and saw them fighting hard, quickly casting a Protect and Shell over the two of them with some draining synergy, then continued running.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!", Itachi yelled, and a ball of fire zoomed dangerously close to Lightning and Naruto. Naruto quickly countered with a Suiton, stopping the fire from hitting them both. Lightning charged forth after the Suiton, slashing at Kisame with Sparkstrikes.

Meanwhile, Hope tilted left to right while running due to tire. He tried to remain alert and he blinked as he slammed into something. Or rather someone.

Lightning's eyes narrowed as Itachi prepared to strike with fire again. But they widened as she saw debilitating magic surround and then engulf him for a split second. Then another form of the same magic swirled around Kisame as someone bellowed from the shadows, "Try to attack now!"

"Katon: Karyuu Endan no jutsu!", Itachi yelled, and a dragon created out of chakra-imbued fire exploded from his mouth. The dragon sputtered shortly after coming to life, falling to the ground in a useless heap then burning out. Fang leapt out of the shadows behind Itachi with a battle cry and shoved her lanced staff into his back, blood beginning to seep out from the wound already. Itachi spluttered, and called out, "Nice timing, foolish child." He then burst into flames. "Darn, and here I was thinking I had him.", Fang winked to Lightning, who didn't notice because she was busy being attacked by Kisame.

Hope stumbled back as someone said in their familiar gaudy tone, "Hey kid, you alright?" "Snow...", Hope was panting, "Light and Naruto are in trouble." Snow said urgently, "Yeah we heard the thunder." Hope had his hands on his knees, "We need to get Hinata and Asuka..."

Itachi appeared in front of his little brother, "Come to pay a visit, per chance?" "NO. I'M HERE TO KILL YOU!", Sasuke yelled, only to be stopped by Naruto pulling him backwards. "No... Sasuke... you don't need this... You'll just... find yourself... trying to... fit in his shoes... Please... don't... kill... him...", Naruto pleaded, looking at the boy who he had always regarded as the least influenceable of the Konoha 12.

Sasuke remained unmoving, "If I had to choose between Itachi and you... you'd come out ahead. Let's get him together, for your safety." Fang screeched as she leapt forward and swung her lance through the air at an 50 degree angle to slice open Itachi's back again. "Nice to see you've joined the party.", she winked at Sasuke as she prepared to strike again.

Naruto was about to let go and let Kyuubi kill for the first time in twelve years when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Oi, Naru nii-chan, you're stronger than that bastard! Keep it up!", Asuka said, hugging him from behind. All of the pressure vanished, and Asuka smiled, "I'll be nearby if you need me, Naru nii-chan. If you die on my watch, Mom'll have me and Shika for dinner."

Lightning was about to plunge her blade through Kisame when he parried and grabbed her by the neck and held her off the ground. "That kid you were with is pretty interesting. You wouldn't mind if we 'borrowed' him would ya?", he sneered. Lightning managed to stammer painfully, "Don't-argh-touch him." She stifled a groan of pain as he tightened his grip.

"Let go of my sister!", Snow barreled in out of no where and knocked Kisame aside, who promptly dropped Lightning to the ground. She shook her head and got up slowly while coughing a little. Snow punched Kisame again before jumping back to Lightning, "You okay sis?" Lightning slightly nodded, "Yeah.." She straightened up again, "Where's Hope?" Snow pointed a thumb back and Lightning looked to see Hope with Sazh, watching her from next to a tree and staying rather hidden. "I'll take care of fish face. Go over there okay?" Lightning didn't need to be told twice, running to Hope and Sazh and getting cover while she caught her breath. "Alright, come and get some fish breath!", Snow provoked, "STEELGUARD!" (A/N: M: You just got Steelguarded. PWNED x3)

"Fuuton: Odama Rasengan!" Naruto used prompting the clones he had surrounded Itachi with to create Odama Rasengans of their own and charge Itachi, who dodged, but was done in with a Chidori Nagashi to the head. Itachi lay dead on the ground, bleeding heavily.

"Easy enough.", Fang winked to the boys again. "Aah. I noticed.", Naruto said, smiling slightly. "Shall we leave the Uchiha's partner to Snow, or help him out a bit? We'll leave emo bitch here. He just killed his brother, so he'll need some time to recover."

Snow punched at Kisame, landing a few good blows when Kisame broke through his Steelguard with a well timed swing of his sword, sending Snow flying into a tree. Kisame took the opportunity to prepare a tidal wave over everyone. Lightning took notice and quickly jumped out to stop him, ready to bear the brunt of the storm to save everyone else.

Lightning tried her best to put up a Steelguard, even though she knew she wasn't the best Sentinel. She watched as the wave flew towards her with unprecedented speed, bracing herself for impact. Just as it was about to hit her, a flash of black and blue appeared in front of her and used Entrench. Lightning blinked as she recognized Fang and watched awestruck as Fang kept a stalemate against the oncoming blow.

"Move it Light!", Fang hissed from over her shoulder. Lightning answered back, "No way am I just leaving you here." Lightning used Aerora to help push the tidal wave back. Kisame was determined, and not even breaking a sweat, "Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shōha!" Fang noticed the tidal wave pushing back and quickly yelled, "Naruto! Get Light out of here!"

"Aah.", Naruto grabbed Light and erected a chakra based shield over the two of them while running, a feat impressive for a Jonin, let alone a new made Chunin. It helped them stave off the worst of the attack, but they still felt the wave crash above their heads, threatening to break through the defense. Lightning kicked at him furiously, "Let me go!" "Light, I'm following the orders of a superior. I can't resist. I'd let you stay if I had a choice." Naruto said.

Lightning watched as the waves crashed around Fang, the pressure too much for even her Sentinel prowess to handle. Fang was swept off her feet and away, sucked down along with the thunderous waves as they slapped trees.

Lightning swiftly smacked Naruto's jugular with the curve of her hand, putting enough pressure for him to release her. "Go. Go on, if you have to.", Naruto said, calmly backing off. Lightning gave him a confident look, one that someone would give if they were leaving to join the army. "Get Hope to safety.", were her last words as she jumped into the torrent.

"Aah. For you, onee-sama.", Naruto said and smiled, watching one he had come to see as a friend jump into the torrent, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she could die. He looked over to the tree, to see Hope dangling off of a narrow branch, which looked unsteady...

"Oi! Hope, Sazh, whoever's on the tree! Hold on, I'll get you guys away from here." Naruto yelled, grabbing the hands of both the man and the young boy and pulling them to safety. "Hope," ,Naruto said, grabbing the boy by his shoulders. "Lightning and I both want you safe. I've come to see you as a friend, and none of my friends will die here.", Naruto said, ruffling his hair, "Now go on back there. Sazh, you watch the injured, and Hope, we need your medic skills. Go, both of you! Light, Sasu-chan, Fang and I can hold 'em off."

Hope murmured, "But I don't see them..." "They're fine. Hope, we need you with the medics. Go on, we'll all be fine!", Naruto said, pushing the boy towards the medic station and running back towards the battle. Sazh pulled Hope with him, "They need you to help the injured. Go do that." Hope nodded hesitantly, still looking out into the whirlpools to locate Fang and Light.

Light swam to the best of her ability, but the currents were strong and she was a bit dizzy. She grabbed onto a tree and coughed as she stuck her head up. She struggled to see amongst the blinding waves, and couldn't see anyone. Either she was far away or the others were sucked in. She decided it was the first one and looked frantically around. A flash of black bobbed out of the surface for one second. Lightning dove in towards it. She saw the figure of Fang struggling to keep hold of a stone to avoid being swept off. Lightning joined her and they both pulled up and onto the small surface of it above the water.

Fang coughed as she said, "I told you not to come after me!" Light said, "Never leave a comrade behind." Fang chuckled, "Glad to see we understand." Light's eyes lowered, "I thought that you and Vanille were going to break off." Fang snit, "Psh. Like we'd do that. Never leave a comrade behind right?"

Light said, "Thanks for saving me." Fang gave her a deep look in the eye, "Listen, I don't want any of us going Cie'th. You understand me?" Light opened her mouth to reply but a fast stream of water silenced her as it washed over them. Fang had closed her eyes and when she looked up again, an enormous tree branch was heading their way. Fang quickly ducked under water to avoid getting hit by it. When she came up again, she saw Light hadn't been so lucky, and was knocked in the head and off the rock.

"No!", Fang screeched as she reached for Light's hand with her lance. Light looked up at her, barely conscious, then closed her eyes and let go. "LIGHT!", Fang yelled as she watched Light get sucked under. Fang tried to jump in after her but the current was too strong and she stayed on the rock.

"Light!", Naruto yelled, taking down the shield and running toward his friend. He located the unconscious girl, and ran towards the medic station. "Hope, she's unconscious. Help her, please!", Naruto choked out, worry evident in his voice. He ran back out to join the fight, where Kisame's resistance was decreasing.

The waves died down and Fang boiled with rage. She charged back onto the battle scene with the loudest death cry and cast debilitating magic over Kisame to slow him down. Kisame's speed decreased visibly, "These kids are... good." "But I'm here for Nine Tails, and I need him in demon form.", Kisame quickly Shunshined to the back lines and back to his original position, holding two rather familiar people in headlocks.

"Oi... Naru nii-chan... Kick his ass... you're way better than him!", the younger of the two yelled. "Kuso...", Naruto cursed and ran forward to stop him. Kisame teleported repeatedly with both children in his hands. Naruto shook his head, but then grinned manically.

"No! Light! No!", Hope choked out as he cast Cure after Cure over her, but she didn't move. He pushed her back and forth, putting his ear down to her heart to listen. A slight heart beat, faint but still there. He pushed down on her chest, trying to resuscitate her. He looked at her drenched face and hesitated for a moment, then forced himself into performing CPR on her. "Come on Light. I need you.", he kept repeating as he pushed down on her chest and frantically looked for any sign of life. He listened again.

This time there was nothing.

Tears began to roll down, "No! No! Light! No!" He tried even harder but Sazh pulled him away, "Other people need attention." Sazh looked at Light solemnly, "Let her go son." Hope lashed out and ran to her side again, "No! She told me to never leave a fallen comrade!"

Suddenly, Kisame appeared and grabbed the unsuspecting boy, who screamed as he dissolved into mid air.

"Hirashin no Jutsu!", Naruto yelled, and focused his chakra into the kunai he had placed on Kisame, who had reappeared with Hope in tow. He ended up standing right behind him. "Fang! Get Asuka and Hope and get out of here!

"No fucking way Naruto!", Fang hissed, "I'm doing this for Light!" Fang cast an Imperil over Kisame, which stopped him from teleporting for a second. She screeched as she plunged her lance through his arm, grabbed Asuka and Hope, and allowed Naruto entry to finish him off.

"Odama Rasengan!", Naruto yelled, pushing the ball of pure chakra through the man's heart and out the other side, ignoring the blood that splattered all over him, "This is what you get for trying to harm my precious people. You touch my friends or my family, and your ass gets dead."

Fang watched as Kisame's corpse fell over with a thump to the ground and ran over. She spat at his body and roughly yanked her lance out, "Same from me."

Naruto smiled, "Thanks for the help, Fang." He sank to his knees, "Damn... fighting Akatsuki takes a lot out of me." The boy fell unconscious, and Asuka came running, among others. She looked up at Fang, "Nii-chan pushed himself too hard again, huh?"

Hope had a steady stream of tears coming down, "No! Not him too!" He cast some Cures over Naruto as he went to his side. Asuka looked up at the worried boy. She grabbed his shoulder just as her adoptive brother had done just a half hour prior, "Hope-kun, calm down. He's just overstretched himself. He'll be up and running in two days or less. I've been dragging or helping Shika drag his ass to the hospital for this same reason all my life, more or less." She looked fondly at the smiling boy, "He's a good guy, isn't he?"

Fang looked to the ground, "Damn it." Sazh ran up and said, "Fang, come here." Fang followed after him as he pulled her aside. "Look...", he began, "Let's take everyone to the hospital. We'll see what we can do with Light there." Fang hissed, "She's dead isn't she?" Sazh exhaled, "I don't know." Then his voice got lower, "I don't think she can die like that if you catch my drift." Fang screeched and threw her lance into a tree, "DAMNIT!"

Sakura came running towards the angry woman. "Lightning's come to, she wants to talk to someone named Hope."

They all turned at Hope's scream at Naruto. "I guess he's.. over there?", Sakura asked.

Fang tromped over and snatched Hope by the arm urgently, "Light's awake." Hope blinked in shock, "Really?" Fang nodded, but it was solemn and Hope took off as fast as possible back to Light.

Hope skidded to a halt next to Lightning, "Light! You're okay!" Lightning groaned and pulled herself up a bit, "Yeah..." She sucked in a breath as she tried to get up but Sakura eased her down, "Woah, easy now. You shouldn't move just yet. You've suffered a nasty shock."

As if on cue, Asuka dragged Naruto's unconscious body in. "Now that's a nasty shock.", Sakura snickered.

Hope blinked in fear at the mention of shock. "Wait! No!", he shook his head violently and took Light's hand, "No! No!" Light smiled weakly at him, "Afraid so." Light saw Naruto next to her unconscious and said, "Don't worry. He'll take care of you. He said he might be able to take your brand off." Hope shook his head and tears flew off, "No! He needs to take yours off! Now!"

Hope went over to Naruto and began to slap him, "Wake up! Light needs you!" Asuka grabbed his hands, "Don't... hurt him... You've done enough. The least you can do is let him sleep so that he can remove her seal." Naruto stirred, "Wait...", he whispered, "Suka, I have a clone reading up on seal release techniques at the library. He still has chakra, I've dispelled all the others, so I should be fine now. Get him here. He may be able to get somewhat started with the release..."

Light murmured, "No." Hope took her hand and said, "No! You told me to never leave a fallen comrade! YOU TOLD ME!" Light smiled weakly at him, "I also told you to continue living. And you can't do that if you don't let me go." Hope shook his head, "But you'll-you'll-!" Light became completely serious, "Listen Hope. Go on living. You can do that if you don't let this get to you. Give Naruto time to rest and survive until he can take the brand off." Hope stammered, "But you-"

"Hope.", she commanded with a disappearing voice, "I believe in you."

With that, a light shone over the area. Lightning's eyes closed as a red eye opened from a projection of her brand. "NO!", Hope tried to grab Light's hand. With a loud shattering noise, crystals over took her in a second. Hope blinked and the next second a shambling Cie'th was before him. "NO!", he shrieked again. He tried to grab on to the thing's arm, "Light! Light!"

All that came was a deathly Cie'th shriek. "NO!", Hope yelled again, hugging the arm. The Cie'th tossed him aside, not caring if it hurt him at all or not. Hope got up and ran to stop her again, "Light! Answer me!" Fang jumped out and restrained Hope by the arm, "She's gone."

Hope shook violently, "NO! LET ME GO! LIGHT!" Fang held him back, "Let her go." Hope turned into Fang's shoulder and she hugged him as he cried. The Cie'th came shambling towards Naruto, wandering around aimlessly.

Asuka jumped in front of it, "Don't hurt my nii-chan! He didn't do anything!" Naruto's eyes opened, but instead of their normal clear blue, they shone a blood red.

"Che. What can an eight year old do to protect my little Naru-chan? He won't die, but you will.", a gravelly voice spoke, contorting Naruto's mouth to fit it's words.

Naruto grabbed his head, and yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Everyone... run... Asuka, go get Hinata... I'll need both of you... to hold him off this time..." , Naruto said, convulsing wildly and screaming from the pain the Kyuubi visited on him.

Fang held the crying Hope close, slightly afraid of the Naruto before her. She looked and saw Light shambling towards him and let Hope go, running fast to get in between them. "I won't let you hurt each other!", she yelled, taking her lance out and flicking her head back and forth to keep watch of both of them. Hope saw Naruto convulsing and ran up. "No! I won't let one of the only people I have left leave me!", he hugged Naruto, trying to get him to stop.

Naruto began to leak red, toxic chakra, and looked at the Cie'th shambling toward him with those red eyes. "I can't believe the boy called you a friend. He's fighting me for the both of you. Sometimes the kid needs a good dose of pain to keep him in line, ne? He's near death, but I'll keep him alive. He's nothing more than a toy. You pick him up, you play with him, and then you put him back. No one really cares about him and no one EVER WILL.", The Kyuubi raised it's voice at the end of the sentence, anger focused on Hope and the Cie'th.

Small patches of blue began to appear, breaking the red's dominance in the boy's eyes as he struggled to regain control of his body. He shook violently again, face contorting out of extreme pain. When he spoke this time, he spoke with his own voice, "I'm sorry... Hope, Fang, all of you... I never meant for you to see me like this... It usually happens on the tenth, no, it always does. I'm sorry... I hope you won't think of me differently...?"

Hope buried his face in Naruto's shoulder, "I'll never think of you differently! You're my friend!" Fang said over her shoulder, "We don't leave comrades behind. Never will." She gave Light a look, then looked back to Naruto as the Cie'th shambled around.

Naruto turned to the Cie'th. "Light, I know that you're in there somewhere. I think of you as a friend still... no matter what happens." The Cie'th let out a low moan, then lurched away.

Hope looked up at Naruto innocently, "Please don't let the Kyuubi take away one of my comrades." "I can hold him back... I just need Hinata and Asuka... They're the triggers I told you about... they can reverse the transformation. They should be here soon.", Naruto said, as Asuka ran in, dragging a pale-eyed girl behind her.

"Naruto-kun? Are you okay?", the girl asked, her voice quavering. "Should be.", he replied, "I just wanna have you two here next time it happens. Because he won't stop tonight, cause this is the day the seal is weakest."

Fang looked at them and smiled a little then turned her attention toward the Cie'th. It was shambling quickly away and she snit under her breath. "Hope..." "I know.", he said without looking back. "No. She said that she didn't want you to worry about her. She said nothing about me.", Fang smirked, "I'll be back with her later. Maybe here we can find a way to undo it."

"Keep Light safe...", Naruto said, "She's worked hard to keep all of us safe." Fang said, "Yeah. I'll make sure I do my best." Snow walked up out of no where, "She said we'd go see Serah together after all, so I'm not worried. Light gets things done." Fang and Snow smiled to each other and Hope. Sazh stepped in, "I'll take Hope back with the rest of them. You go catch soldier girl."

"If you wanna find her fast... get Kiba.. he's the second best tracker in the village.", Naruto said, out of the blue. Fang nodded, "Alright. I wonder what Vanille will say..." Snow punched Fang's shoulder lightly, "It'll be alright. Don't worry." Fang exhaled, "This coming from the hero I would hope so. Right then,", she turned and waved, "See ya later." Hope nodded back and Sazh waved. Naruto smiled, "Hope... don't worry, little bro. She'll be fine, if our talk earlier proved anything." Hope just nodded, a little too wracked to process things right now.

"Get up, nii-chan. Drop the act. You're coming with us.", Asuka said, motioning behind her, "Wait... SHIKA-BAKA, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU?" "By the way, Hope, you're welcome too.", she said, smiling. Hope simply nodded again, his face completely blank for the time being. "LET'S GO THEN!", she yelled, dragging the three unfortunate males toward the Nara Compound, where they ran into Temari.

"Err... Temari? Light was traveling with you, right?" Naruto asked, unsteadily. Temari gave him a hard look, analyzing that all of them were hurt or shocked, "Yeah. Something happen?.." She knew already that bad news was coming. "Yeah. She... Hope, can you explain? I lack the proper terminology to do so...", Naruto said and turned away, sighing. Hope froze up, not saying anything at all. But Temari could tell what could cause that. "She's hurt huh?...", Temari spoke for him, getting downcast.

"Not hurt. Gone.", Naruto said, "She's turned into a monster. But she left me with the task of keeping Hope happy, so I decided he might benefit from the place I was happiest."

"Here.", he said, trailing off.

Temari was shocked but she said calmly, "I see." She affectionately rubbed the top of Hope's head, "You'll be alright kid. Naruto-kun and Shika-kun will take good care of you." Hope hung his head, his bangs covering his eyes. Asuka patted his shoulder, "It's okay, Hope. We'll get her back. I promise."

Temari exhaled and took Hope by the hand, "I'll take him inside. You guys look pretty beat up...maybe you should go to the hospital." "Nah, Naru nii-chan's the only one that needs attention. His.. tenant... tried to take control, which is what got Hinata and me. We're his triggers... so the demonic chakra doesn't affect us.", Asuka said. Temari's eyebrow raised, "Triggers?"

"Naru nii-chan said that each demon container has two people who they find throughout the course of their lifetime, who aren't affected by the demonic chakra. They can reverse the demonic transformation by touching them. However, the main thing is, that they have to be of the opposite gender of the Jinchuriki. Hence, Hinata and I are Naru's triggers. I know you're one of Gaara nii-chan's though. I can tell. And the other is his student... you know.. what's her name...", Asuka said. "Matsuri.", Temari said then half-heartedly chuckled, "Heh. I knew it."

Naruto chuckled, "Really now? Gaara has a girlfriend?" Temari smirked, "I think he teaches her things other than jutsus if you catch my drift..." "Ya know, the same could be said for you and Hinata-chan, otouto.", Shikamaru said before giving into a fit of laughter. Both parties turned red, both from Temari's joke and Shikamaru's revelation. Hope stayed silent but allowed himself to smile for a second.

He tugged on Temari's hand, "Uhn...if you don't mind...I'd like to stay with Naruto..." "Hope, I'll be here. The Naras are the closest I have to a family, so I think I'll need them closer than usual, if what I think is going to happen comes to pass.", Naruto said, his face betraying the worry he felt for those close to him. Hope said, "But you need to go to the hospital. You're really hurt..."

"I'll heal. Side effect of Kyuubi. If Akatsuki comes after me, I might as well have them come after I get to say goodbye, ne? Cause we all know I can't go on for very much longer. I told Light that this seal would hold forever, but after today's episode... I don't think I have much longer till the tenant breaks out.", Naruto said, bowing his head slightly, so that his hair fell in his eyes, "Damn... I need a haircut." Hope murmured, "Okay.", then fell completely silent.

Naruto smiled at Hope and pulled him close, "You'll be fine."

"Now let's go in. Yoshino-sama's probably about to run out with a knife telling us to come for dinner already.", he said, chuckling to himself. Hope forced a chuckle and dropped Naruto's hand from him as he walked forward alone.

"Che. Not a knife, a sword.", Asuka said, "Daddy's got one, you know." "Nah. She wouldn't!", Naruto said. "Yes, She would.", Asuka said, smiling, "Shika nii-chan said something about men's spas making her weird." "Men's spas, Suka?", Naruto asked, quirking an eyebrow at the little eight year old. "Yeah! That's what he said, Naru nii-chan!", Asuka maintained, ignoring Naruto's guffaws in the background.

"But... kaa-san... doesn't go... to... spas...", Naruto said, in between laughter. "According to Shika, now she does.", Asuka deadpanned. "I think you should go talk to kaa-san about this, kay?", Naruto said, pushing her awkwardly toward the kitchen. "Gawd, she makes me laugh some days.", Naruto said, chuckling, "Men's spas... really..."

Hope smiled at their exchange but kept quiet. Maybe he'd find more hope in this home too.


	5. Chapter 5: Seeing Stars

"So Vanille...", Kiba began, while chowing down on his ramen, "How come you're with that bunch?" "We travel together.", Vanille said as she tried to pick up noodles and failed, "We were trying to get to Oerba when we ended up here."

"Oi, Vanille, you pick 'em up like that.", Kiba guided her hand on the chopstick to pick up the ramen noodles, and put them in her mouth, "See? Easier?" She slurped them up then gave him a satisfied smile, "Okay!" She inspected the chopsticks in her hand, "I've never really used these before." She tried again, "It's cool!" "We use these for pretty much everything, so I guess you're gonna get used to it somehow.", he said with a smile. She hungrily stuffed the ramen in her mouth, "It's really good! I haven't had anything like this before!"

"Naruto, Shikamaru and I used to come here as kids... back when our biggest concern in life was whether to play hooky or not. I miss those days.", Kiba said, reminiscing back on his days as a small child. Then he sighed, "But as soon as you reach Genin, you grow up or you die. Those are pretty much the only choices."

"Oh.", Vanille paused for a moment then said, "But I'm sure you're going to grow up to be a strong ninja! Especially with ramen like this!" She giggled as she teased him. "Aah, I dunno. Once I reach Jonin, mom's gonna make me clan head, and I'll probably end up wasting away, doing paperwork.", Kiba said, then perked up a little bit, "But I'll have some good fights before then, at least!" "Uh huh!", she grinned as she put more ramen in her mouth. She swallowed then asked, "So what's your clan like then?"

"We're famous for our veterinary work, and fighting with ninken, ninja dogs. Like Akamaru, here, each clan member's assigned one once they turn 10, and they work with them. Our dogs are of a breed that lives 30-40 years, so they'll last our entire shinobi career.", Kiba explained, while ingesting mouthfuls of the noodles.

"You're lucky! I had Bhakti, but I wish I could have gotten such a cute doggy!", Vanille bent down and ruffled Akamaru's ear. "Yeah, he's getting a little big. He's gonna have pups soon. I could talk Mom into letting you have one, seeing as we don't have many kids at ten this time. And if the puppies get too old, we can't pair 'em off.", Kiba said. "Aww... but I don't think Fang would let me keep it.", Vanille cooed as she pet Akamaru, "But I'm sure they'll be super cute too!"

"They will be. I just hope you're here to see it.", Kiba said, suddenly avoiding Vanille's gaze. "Me too.", Vanille said, but her voice betrayed a tiny bit of a melancholy air. "I heard Lightning and Fang talking about you guys leaving soon, so I assumed you might not be here long... And yeah! My team's Hinata-chan and Shino. Ya know, the dude with the bugs?", Kiba said. "Yeah! What about the others? What are their teams?", she changed the subject expertly.

"Naruto's on a team with the Uchiha and Sakura, the medic. Shikamaru's with Ino and Chouji, and Neji's with Tenten and Lee. Kurenai-sensei teaches me, Hina and Shino; Kakashi-sensei teaches Sasuke and Sakura, and "teaches" Naruto; Asuma-sensei teaches Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji, and Gai, the bowl cut dude, teaches Lee's team.", Kiba said.

"Ah, I see.", Vanille said, even though it seemed like it had come in one ear and out the other, "...Are you close to any of them...?" "Close? I always thought I was close to Naruto, cause we always acted alike, but finding I didn't know who he really was all this time was tough. But it'll be fun getting to know him as a person, not a ninja. And everyone says he knows real powerful jutsus, so maybe he'll teach me some!", Kiba yelled.

Vanille twirled her chopstick in her plate and looked down as she said, "Yeah! But uhm...I was thinking more like...the other sort of close..." "The other sort?", Kiba asked, clearly confused, "There's another sort?" "Uhn...nevermind...", Vanille blushed a little as she quickly asked to cover it up, "So do you have any close family then?"

"Nah... my sister's a lot older than I am, Mom's busy, and my dad... died in the Kyuubi attack sixteen years ago.", Kiba said, looking a little downcast, "I was three months old." "Oh...I'm sorry.", Vanille said, putting her chopsticks down. She delicately placed a hand over his on the table, "But you'll make a good clan leader one day!" "Thanks.", Kiba said, "Gotta fill the old man's shoes some way, ne?" Vanille nodded her head, "You will! So...", she pointed her chopstick at his nose, "I'm curious. What's with the marks on your face?"

"Clan thing.", Kiba replied, "I never really questioned why they do that stuff. We're born with it, that's all I know." "What's your mark for?", Kiba asked. Vanille turned red, "You-you did see it?" "Yeah...", Kiba said, blushing. "Uh-well-it's a brand...", Vanille stammered anxiously, "But you were looking THERE?" She kept up the changing of the subject by chiding him, "I didn't think you were the perverted kind!", and playfully slapping his hand.

"Things aren't always what they seem, Vanille. I walked in on my sensei doing... stuff... with Asuma-san, and since then... I've been a bit off.", Kiba said, sweating. "Ah well...let's change the subject!", she shook her head furiously like she was trying to shake bad thoughts off, "Uhn... what's your favorite color?"

"Uhhh... red, like my tattoos.", Kiba said. "And your hair...", he thought subconsciously. "Red's a nice color!", Vanille smiled, "Your turn to ask me something." "Uhhh... favorite animal?", Kiba asked, instinctively looking at Akamaru, who promised not to ever do a Dynamic Marking on Vanille. "Oooh, that's tough.", She cocked her head from side to side in playful thought, "I like dogs, cats, and chocobos." "Chocobos?", Kiba asked, head cocked slightly to one side, "What are those?" "The little chick Sazh has. The one who now has a bowl cut!", Vanille giggled. "Oh! That one? We don't have those here, so I got confused. Heh heh... Sorry about that.", Kiba said, absentmindedly scratching the back of his head. "It's okay.", she smiled, "My turn huh...uhmn..." She opened her mouth to ask something when she heard, "VANILLE!"

She looked to her right and saw Fang and Snow running towards her, "There you are Vanille! And with Kiba good!" "Huh?", Kiba asked, turning to face them with a mouthful of noodles. "Something wrong?", Vanille asked as they paused to take a breath. Snow admitted solemnly, "Light's gone." Vanille's eyes widened, "What? What do you mean-" "She's gone Cie'th damnit!", Fang yelled, smacking her fist into the wall.

"Ummm... care to explain? Anyone?", Kiba asked. Vanille got up from the table in a hurry, "In a second. Fang, what happened?" "We were fighting these bastards in black cloaks when Light got shaken up. It was too much and her brand gave in. She's gone Vanille, she's gone.", Fang grabbed Vanille by the forearm and her voice lowered gravely, "The Cie'th went deeper into the training grounds. We have to go find it." Vanille turned to Kiba, "You can track things right?"

"Yup! Second best in Konoha. Wait... Naruto's with you guys, right?", Kiba asked. Snow said, "Kyuubi was acting up and he went to get help. He's okay now though, don't worry. We need to find Light now." Kiba snickered, "You shoulda taken him instead of me. He's the best tracker in Konoha. But I'll help. Anything for a comrade's comrade.", Kiba said, smiling. Vanille took both of his hands in hers and pleaded, "I bet you're the best tracker and are just not confident enough! Please find my friend!"

"You guys got anything of hers on you? And, nah, his fox gives him REALLY enhanced senses. That's why he spent the entire party in a corner yesterday, cause whispers to him are like someone screaming in his ear. Poor guy. Anyway, got anything of hers on you?", Kiba asked.

Fang shook her head and Snow thought for a moment then plunged a hand into his pocket. He pulled out Serah's Tear and said, "She had this recently. I hope you can find her using this. Just...be careful with that okay?"

"Mhm." The boy smelled it and held it in front of the dog's nose. Akamaru's eyes lit up and he barked to Kiba. Kiba looked at the others and said, "Akamaru knows exactly where she is. He smelled this scent on the way here. Follow me."

"Oh thank you Kiba thank you!", Vanille said as she followed closely after him, with Snow and Fang not too far behind. Kiba ran forward, and then took a left down a dark alley that led directly to Training Ground 44- The Forest of Death. "Shit.", Kiba cursed, "This isn't gonna be pretty. We need a lot of other people for this to work at all..." "Oh...should we go find some more ninjas?", Vanille suggested. "Yeah. We need one specific little powerhouse. I hate to ask, knowing that he was in the fight earlier, but we need Uzumaki Naruto.", Kiba said.

Fang huffed, "But he was fighting with a demon and is really beaten up. I think we should go in after her anyway." "We'll need back up. Akamaru, go get Shino and Hinata. Tell them it's a training mission. GO!", Kiba yelled, slapping the dog on the butt unnecessarily hard. "He'll get the rest of my team. Hinata's vision field is large, Shino's bugs are awesome trackers and I think with these things, we can match up to Naruto. He's got the only thing we lack though...", Kiba trailed off.

"What's that?", Snow asked. "Well... two things... Experience. He's been training against all the animals in this forest since we were twelve. And brute force... but... hey! You're strong, right? So the only thing we lack is the experience!", Kiba said excitedly. "Which is the most important part...", he said, the excitement disappearing. Vanille shook her head, "Back on Pulse, we fought all kinds of nasties! I bet we can handle the ones in there!" Fang and Snow nodded as well.

Vanille stared Kiba in the eyes, "I believe we can!"

"All right then! Just warning you, the last time a team went into this forest, Team 7 actually, they got caught by a Sannin, one member was branded with a cursed seal, and the other member was sealed with a pretty much parasitic seal on top of his seal, which ended up eating his energy resources. The third member... fainted.", Kiba said, "They're all fine though."

"But we're the heroes!", Snow declared, "We'll sort things out!" Fang lightly punched Snow across the shoulder for Lightning, "Yeah, yeah, we got it." Vanille giggled, "Yep! I know we will!"

"OK! Let's go!", Kiba yelled, and was about to start into the forest when Shino and Hinata shunshined into sight, Hinata holding Akamaru. "Good, you guys are here. Hina, we'll need your Byakuugan for this, and Shino, it'd help if you could get your bugs out there."

Shino didn't even flinch as a swarm of bugs poured out of every orifice in his body and ran into the forest, and Hinata activated her Byakuugan, her optic nerves swelling to several times their size.

Suddenly, they all heard a yell.

"KEEEEYAAAH!", the distinct metallic screech of a Cie'th echoed through the area, causing Vanille to flinch a little. "Lightning!", Snow called out urgently.

"Let's go.", all the members of Team 8, as well as half the l'Cie party ran into the forest, seeking the location of the Cie'th. As they were running, Shino announced, "The bugs have got her. I've encased her in the swarm. She can't move. Over this way."

Everyone followed Shino to see the Cie'th trapped in a swarm of bugs that were sucking away all its energy. "Wow!", Vanille cheered, "Good job Shino!" She shook him a little bit by the shoulders in glee. "I do not like human contact.", Shino said, brushing away Vanille's hand, "However, you can definitely hug Kiba. He very much likes human contact, don't you, Kiba?"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?" Kiba's yell was heard all throughout Konoha.

"Okay!", Vanille glomped Kiba around the shoulders, "Thank you for finding her!" "Hehehehehe... I didn't help much... Shino did all the work.", Kiba said, slightly flushed. "Now don't go selling yourself short!", Vanille playfully shook him then backed off, "Now then, how do we-"

She was cut off by another paralyzing Cie'th scream. The entire team cupped their ears as the shriek split through the air and hurt like nails on a chalkboard.

"Yeah... we definitely need... a sealer. Shit. NARUTOOOOOOOOOO!", Kiba yelled. This time, you could hear him in Suna. Gaara's deputy shifted in his sleep. "What the f*** was that?", he said, and went back to sleep.

The bugs swarming around the Cie'th swarmed away and back to Shino. It started to lurch away quickly and continued shrieking, paralyzing the team and preventing them from moving very far. "Damnit.", Fang swore under her breath as she attempted to move her feet but was dazed frozen. The Cie'th disappeared into the dark and the shrieks faded. Vanille un-cupped her ears and eased up, "No! We lost her!" Fang tapped Vanille on the shoulder as she passed, heading toward where the Cie'th disappeared, "I'm going to continue tracking her."

"Wait! Fang!", Vanille called after her, "Don't go it alone!" Fang turned and gave a determined glare, "It's my fault she ended up this way. I'm going to fix it." She smiled and tilted her head to the side, "Just send Naruto in here when he feels better. I'll be fine, I always have been." Fang gave Vanille their hand sign, "I promise I'll come back again." Vanille made the same sign, "No matter how far apart..."

Fang and Vanille said at the same time, "We'll be together again."

Vanille smiled and waved, "Good bye!" Fang smiled and waved, "Stay with Kiba and be a good girl!" Vanille called out as Fang vanished into the forest, "I will!"

* * *

The moonlight shone on five figures sprawled on the Nara hill. "The stars sure are pretty tonight.", Naruto muttered. Shikamaru chuckled, "Not as pretty as the lady watching them.", staring blatantly at Temari, who began chasing him around the tree. Naruto and Asuka held on to Shikamaru and Temari respectively. "ONE, TWO, THREE, GO!", they yelled simultaneously and let go of the offending people, resulting in an accidental kiss.

"VICTORY!", Asuka yelled. "Thank god I figured out how to turn off the Kitsune senses... If I hadn't I'd be dead.", Naruto thought, shaking his ear with his pinky.

"Oh yeah, Hope, you were asking if I was all right earlier, right? Look.", Naruto pulled up his shirt to show where a large gash which had been bleeding copiously had been. Now, it was gone, without even scar tissue to prove the skin was once damaged, "That's pretty much the only good thing about Kyuu-chan."

"Ah, that's relieving.", Hope sighed. He was laid down and staring up at the stars. "Oi, Hope. Lighten up...", Asuka said, "Nii-chan promised he'd bring her back, right? He never breaks his word. Believe in him, and he won't let you down."

"I do. I believe in him.", Hope said, without taking his eyes from the starry sky.

"Just asking: What was Lightning-sama to you? Your sister or something?", Asuka asked, a look of confusion gracing her childish face.

Hope didn't hesitate. "My partner.", he said, "We promised to protect each other."

"Like nee-san and Shika-baka?", Asuka asked. "From what I can tell, something like that.", Hope smiled a little at Temari and Shikamaru. (A/N: D: She is mature for her age, seeing as she's grown up trying to be like Shika, but we've gotta give her time to be a kid, ne?)

Asuka followed his gaze, "They're always like that. Temari nee-san's been coming to Konoha from Suna since I was five. She's been playing stupid games with aniki ever since. I don't get it.", she said, eyebrows narrowing, "He always talks about her all the time... I don't get it."

Hope smiled, "Sit down next to me and I'll try my best to explain it to you." "Ok!", she smiled bigger. It was incredibly cute how Asuka looked when she decided to act eight, as she should.

Hope looked up at the stars, his arms arched to his sides as he pillowed his head in his hands, "Let me put it this way: How would the night sky look without the stars?"

"It wouldn't be as pretty. And it would be dark.", Asuka deadpanned. "Exactly.", he said, "Now imagine Shikamaru is the night sky and Temari is the stars."

"Aah. I can see it... The sky is reeeeeeally ugly. But the stars are still pretty though.", she said, giggling. He laughed, the first genuine one in a while, "Right okay. Well, whenever Temari is around the stars are there right? And Shikamaru's sky is pretty and bright."

"Awww, Shikamaru's sky's usually yucky... like.. trash can junk!", Asuka yelled loudly, causing Shikamaru to retort, "Not cool!" Hope chuckled, "Well, maybe Shikamaru's sky looks like that all the time to you I guess. But if Temari's stars weren't around, then Shikamaru's sky would be dark and sad right?"

"I guess...", she replied, slightly unsure, "But Naru nii-chan would light it up again! Even though Naru nii-chan says he's a black hole of darkness, he'd be like the sun here and Chouji-kun and Ino nee-san... well kinda." He smiled, "Yes, there are other stars there, but there would be empty holes where Temari's should be right? The sky would be a little darker without them."

"Aah. I guess so. It would be lonely if Temari nee-chan stopped coming.", she said, and looked over at Temari, who was tickling Shikamaru while Naruto got it on video. "Definitely less fun. Mom would have us working all the time. Yuck."

"Right.", Hope said, "So you understand right? The stars are important to the sky, making them brighter and look nicer." "Aah, it would be weird if the sky was dark.", Asuka conceded, "Especially if the sky is really ugly and evil like aniki." She giggled and fell over in full blown laughter.

He continued grinning, "Just like it would be weird if the sky was without the stars, I'm sure Shikamaru would be weird without Temari." "He does get a little spacey after she leaves.", she said, obviously deep in thought.

He concluded, "You get it right? Temari is important to Shikamaru and he is to her. They just wouldn't be the same without each other." "That's true... Aniki's a lot happier whenever she's here! Thanks, Hope nii-san!", Asuka hugged him tightly but then drew back, "Are you one of those people that doesn't like hugs? Or is me hugging you OK?", she asked. He blinked but smiled, "No, it's fine. I think I actually needed that." He patted Asuka on the head, like Light used to do to him, "Thanks Asuka."

"You're welcome!", she said and grinned, "You'll be a really good teacher someday, Hope nii-san!" "We'll see. The future is uncertain right now, but it gets a little brighter when you have stars to light the sky.", he looked up at the stars again. "You'll light it up. Who knows, you might give that lecture to your own kids someday.", she said, wondering.

Hope blushed furiously, "Uhn...yeah..." "Little much to think about, huh?", Asuka said and grinned, "Like Naru nii-chan said, 'Always plan ahead!'" He said, "Yeah. But one thing is for sure. I'll definitely mention you."

"Thanks! And just a question: since Shika's the sky and Temari's the stars, and you said you and Lightning-sama were friends too... does that mean you're another sky and Lightning-sama's your stars?", Asuka asked innocently.

Hope blushed a little but his voice was completely calm and certain, "I guess so."

"That's cool! I guess I'll find someone like that when I'm older too, right?", Asuka asked. He said, "I believe a pretty girl like you will. In fact,", he sat up and looked at her expectantly, "I promise that one day someone will see you the same way." He held up his pinky. Asuka held her pinky out too, "Yeah. You too, nii-san! I'll help them get Lightning-sama back for you so that you'll be happy forever too! I promise!"

They wrapped their pinkies together under the starlight and said together, "It's a promise."

"Oi, Hope, did ya see that? I think Shika's dead from tickling, and I got it all on video.", Naruto said, pausing for laughter. "No... way...", Shikamaru said, trying desperately to catch his breath, "Am... not... dead...!" Temari giggled, "Yes you are, now say 'Uncle' and we won't hurt you." "Darn, I guess I missed it!", Hope winked to Asuka as he smiled, "But if he hasn't given in yet...", he pounced and joined in the assault.

Asuka giggled at Hope's antics and joined in, mercilessly tickling her older brother, much to the glee of Naruto and Temari, who had pulled out her own video camera to record the miraculous event. Asuka had brought Hope out of his shell, and this was something Lightning would want to see when she came back. Not "if", "when".

"Say it!", Hope teased as he and Asuka relentlessly tickled Shika, "Say it!" "Fine... Fine... Uncle... UNCLE!", Shikamaru yelled, as the two kids tickled him to the point of hyperventilation. "That's enough, guys. We want Shika-chan alive now.", Temari said, earning an outburst of laughter from Naruto. "We all know what you have in mind for him.", Naruto commented.

Immediately, Asuka and Hope grabbed both cameras in time to see Naruto running from an angry Temari, who was yelling, "I'LL GET YOU FOR IMPLYING STUFF LIKE THAT! I HAVE NOTHING LIKE THAT IN MIND!" "Uhhh, nee-chan? I think you do, cause you're blushing!", Asuka said and tittered, "Right, Hope nii-san?" Hope nodded, "Absolutely! She just won't admit it on camera!" They both laughed uproariously and Temari turned the camera their way to capture their smiling faces.

"See! She's so shy!", Hope laughed as he tried to turn the camera back and catch Temari's red face. "Shut up, you two!", Temari yelled, blushing all the while.

Asuka giggled, "Say it to the camera, nee chan! 'I am in love with a retarded lazy-ass'!" "Are you now?", Naruto asked, only to be punched in the stomach by someone half his size, "EWW! Naru nii-chan! You're so gross!" "Nee-chan needs to say it.", Asuka yelled, while Naruto continued his relentless assault on the little girl. (A/N: Paradigm shift!)

Temari attempted to reign in the blood rushing to her cheeks. "I... am. inlovewitharetardedlazy-ass. There. I said it."

Hope declared triumphantly, "Yes! Success!" (A/N: M: I'd give them 5 stars. D: Hope, Naruto, and Asuka = 5 stars, every time) "Very much so, very much so.", Shikaku Nara said, clapping his hands as he emerged from the shadows. "Naruto, I've only seen a jonin level shinobi defeated by an Academy student once. You were on the attacking end last time, so looks like fate's truly bitten you in the butt now.", he said and laughed.

"Who is that?", Hope whispered to Asuka as he closed the camera. "Daddy!", Asuka yelled and jumped into the man's arms, "This is my new friend, Hope!" "Oh!", Hope quickly stuck his hand out, "Nice to meet you Mister Nara!"

"Well met. I assume you're one of the foreigners the Hokage mentioned at the Jonin meeting. I know you're not here to hurt my younger son, so we're completely okay. I had my doubts, but after seeing you with my daughter... I'm placing a lot of trust you, kid.", Shikaku said, exhaling deeply.

"And you, Temari-sama, will be glad to know that Suka-chan got your confession on tape. We'll play it at your wedding." "DID SOMEONE SAY... WEDDING?", a voice screeched.

A middle aged woman, who looked nothing like either of her children, ran out of the compound and glomped her son, "Shika! Shika! When do we have to plan the wedding for?"

Shikamaru scoffed, "Mom? I'm sixteen. Can't I get a little break from this?" Yoshino retorted with the same intensity that all the males (except Hope) had grown up fearing, "Ever since you rejected that one girl, I was beginning to think that you were gay. With Naruto."

Naruto's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, "SHIKA-BAKA? REALLY?" He quickly covered his mouth, and grinned, "Shika, if I was a girl... I'm not even gonna go there. You know I'm straighter than a straight stick, man."

Hope walked up next to Asuka and Shikaku, "That's your wife Mister Nara?" "Yeah, troublesome bitch, she is.", Shikaku groaned, only to be whacked with a nearby two by four.

"Who are you, boy?", Yoshino asked, walking up to the silver-haired "trespasser".

Hope froze up awkwardly. Is she one of the villagers who hates him? He stammered, "Uh... well... I...", while slowly backing away.

"Yoshino, he's not here to hurt Naruto. Stop being such a bitch.", Shikaku said, only to get whacked again by the same two by four. "Yeah, I wouldn't hurt anyone here...", Hope said confidently but trailed off when Yoshino gave him her analytical look.

"Really?", Yoshino asked, still in an interrogating mood. Shikamaru and Shikaku shivered while Naruto and Asuka giggled at Hope's reaction, seeing as neither of them had ever been on the receiving end of Yoshino's wrath. Hope nodded confidently even if his eyes shied away, "I wouldn't." "You wouldn't? All right. You seem like a good kid.", Yoshino said, and all the others, who had been holding their breath for her reaction, exhaled simultaneously.

"I'm glad because I don't really have anywhere else I can stay-", Hope began only to be cut off. "You don't? You poor child, you! Of course you can stay with us!", Yoshino said, suddenly transforming into a motherly person. Hope looked slightly downcast, "Thanks..."

Naruto sweatdropped at the sudden change, "Kaa-san? What's with the mood swings? Your time of the month or something?" "I'd blame it on menopause.", Shikamaru said, and was immediately whacked. Hope sat down on the ground and looked up at the stars again, positioning himself out of a possibly life endangering conversation.

Naruto sat down beside him, "Kid, don't worry. She's just... like this somedays. It's a good place." Hope sighed, "No, I can see that." "That's good.", Naruto said, and smiled, "I was here often as a kid. These two filled the role of parents whenever I needed any. These guys seriously brought my adoption case before the council twelve times, defying the council's ruling that I remain a Ward of the State. They're good people." Hope nodded, "Yeah, I can see that.", he laid back on the grass and just kept staring emptily.

"What's wrong? You can tell me.", Naruto said gently. "I was just thinking.", Hope said, without moving. "About what?", Naruto asked, stretching out on the hill. "Everything I guess.", Hope murmured. "Everything?", Naruto asked, then chuckled, "That's quite a bit for someone of your age."

"Yeah I guess.", Hope said, "That's what Sazh says. That kids should never get mixed up in things like this. I guess I'm still thinking the same thing... why it turned out the way it did."

"You know what Hope? I've spent my entire life thinking about things like that. What would have happened if Kyuu-chan never attacked? Would my parents have lived? Would I be who I am today? Most likely not. You see, Hope, the way I look at it, everything that happens makes you who you are. A great part of my alternate personality was created out of my denial as a young child to believe that I was hated, and that no one wanted me other than the Naras, and a select few others. And that personality is the only reason that I'm remotely normal. If I hadn't done that, I'd have destroyed Konoha years ago. I am me because of all the things that have happened. No matter what, you'll be accepted, Hope. Count that as a blessing for you.", Naruto said, the smile slipping off of his face as he addressed Hope, while partially addressing his self.

Hope exhaled, "Yeah. I don't think I'd be alive if I didn't realize that sustaining yourself by hate does nothing but hurt those around you. But if things hadn't turned out the way they did, then I wouldn't be here..."

"I think you and Sasuke should have a good talk about hate and fate, but you've learned a lot from being here. What I theorize, is that there is a l'Cie/Jinchuriki type being in every universe, just as that curse is everywhere, so is the pain that comes with it.", Naruto said, "Granted, you've taught me quite a bit, kid."

Hope murmured, "I wonder how others turned out then... things aren't looking so great for us." "Talk to Gaara. He was pretty much in the same predicament as us. He can give you a perspective of how we could have turned out. When you became a l'Cie, you dedicated your life to completing your Focus, instead of killing randomly until you went Cie'th. Same with me, I picked the goal of reaching Hokage, and devoted my life to it. Gaara wasn't like that. Shukaku, his demon, convinced him just like Kyuubi tried to convince me that killing was the only way to prove my existence was useful. I changed him though. He's like us now, although he did reach Kage first, the bastard.", Naruto said.

Hope's eyes narrowed, "You don't understand, our lives aren't dedicated to our Focus. We're just trying to survive. Even if that meant killing some people, we were going to try and get by. I'm still not sure if I should hope for freedom or a quick death... Lightning and Snow were really the ones that helped me keep going."

"Hope for freedom. That's what keeps me going. I set a goal, and I don't stop til it's done. You have the goal right in front of you. Take charge and you can do it.", Naruto said, "And everyone has people that keep them going. The Third, a man who I saw as a grandfather, kept me going for years, died when I was twelve. His memory still keeps me going today. Keep Light as you remember her best in your heart and keep going. She wanted you to.", Naruto said, unconsciously going back to the conversation they had mere hours before.

"She was the one who told me surviving off of hate was no way to live.", Hope remembered their conversation back in Palumpolum, "I didn't believe her until I figured that there's no way to change what's been done... my mom and Light are dead, and there isn't anything I can do other than continue living. I guess it just... doesn't make sense to me how time keeps moving like that."

"That's the secret of human life. We're like flowers that bloom almost immediately and then we fade, almost as fast as we grew. Time moves, and we have to follow.", Naruto said in a far away tone.

"I've tried figuring out what to do in my life to fix things... to atone for them, as Snow puts it. I know I don't have all the answers and I guess that's why I'll have to live. To figure it out and hopefully not to add to the regrets I already have...", Hope trailed off.

"Hope, you can't avoid adding to the regrets. It's a natural thing. All you can do is make peace with yourself and keep going. If I had never forgiven myself for believing that I was really the Kyuubi, and that I truly deserved their hate, where would I be? Not here, that's for sure.", Naruto said and then trailed off.

"I know. It's just... I want to believe in the future.", Hope affirmed, "I want to see another dawn. I don't want this to stop me. I want to keep going for the people important to me. I want to make it easier on them, so maybe I can be happy if they are."

"As do I. That's a good goal, Hope. Stick with it.", Naruto said and ruffled his hair, "You're a smart kid, and if you're anything like Light says you are, you'll get it done."

"There's one thing I want to ask you though.", Hope turned to face Naruto, "What did Light say to you?" "She told me to protect you and make sure you kept on living no matter what.", Naruto said and smiled, "I figured she was right, based on experience."

"And she also said to keep alive the hope you were named for.", Naruto added as an afterthought.

Hope stared at the stars again, "I'll call it Operation Light then."

"Huh. Smart alec, are we? Calling everything an Operation.", Naruto said and grinned, "You couldn't have picked a better name. Now let's get that Focus good, ne?"

"To believe in the future and keep the light of hope I've been given.", Hope said, "That's my real Focus."

"Like mine is to become Hokage... and ultimately, to be accepted.", Naruto said.

"We'll make it happen.", Hope smiled to Naruto. "We will. I promise.", Naruto said, extending his pinky finger toward Hope. Hope wrapped his own pinky around Naruto's and said, "I promise."

Then Hope half-chuckled and said, "There's just one thing though..." "Aah. Major or minor problem?", Naruto asked. Hope laughed, "Major! We still haven't gotten anything to eat!"

"That is an oversight that should be corrected immediately. C'mon, everyone else's inside. We better join, or we'll feel the pain of the two by four. Not that I've ever been hit by that.", Naruto said, dragging Hope along in his quest for food.

Hope chuckled, "Can't be worse then the after effects of Light's preparations of soldier meals!" "Soldier meals? I make those.", Naruto said, "In fact, Light and I had expired milk together earlier. It tasted good. But then again, it's an acquired taste." "Okay, if you consider hurling more than a Behemoth an 'acquired taste' then I'll believe you.", Hope teased.

"Behemoth? Gotta be better than moldy meat and one year overdue milk...", Naruto said, quirking an eyebrow, "That was my dinner yesterday, by the way." "You've never fought or tasted Behemoth.", Hope pointed out. "Especially prepared by Light.", he chuckled.

"It's that bad?", Naruto asked, "You should see Suka cook then. I swear, she could burn water." "Light blows up water.", Hope deadpanned. "Niiice. That's my cooking skills in a sentence. But water does taste better blown up...", Naruto said. "But you also eat soldier meals.", Hope laughed, "Maybe I should teach all of you to cook when Light comes back."

"That would be nice. But it takes creativity and extreme lack of skill to make soldier meals, and I choose to accept my inability to produce food that I find palatable, even if no one else thinks so.", Naruto said and grinned, "But then again, could you teach me to cook while we're rooming together?" "Absolutely!", Hope grinned back, "My mom used to make this really great meal with minced meat and lettuce cups."

"Huh. I never met my mother.", Naruto deadpanned, "What's having a real mom like? I mean, I have Mrs. Nara, but what's it like to be raised by your own flesh and blood?" "Well...I guess it depends on the kind of person they are and how you get along. I was really close to my mom but my dad and I never really got along...", Hope was a little saddened by that but continued, "But I guess, I have to hope that my dad kept his promise to live so that when I come home one day, he'll still be there. Then it'll get better."

"Hmm... Every adult that knew who my parents were says that they were good people, but I kinda wish that could have met them, you know. I could go home to hear "Mom's gonna be home soon" or "Hey! How was work!" or something instead of "Shut up kid and go to sleep so that I can leave you alone. You stink of the goddamn demon." That would have done wonders for my mental state, don't you think so?", Naruto asked, looking at Hope. "I'd say so.", he agreed, "Having someone close to you from the beginning is good. I'm sure you're getting to know them through other people or through stuff they've left you or something like that though." "Eh... not really. I've learned my dad's techniques, but not much more. He left me a picture though.", Naruto said, and held up a piece of paper.

In the picture, a man who looked just like Naruto stood hunched over a hospital bed while facing the camera, holding the shoulders of a redhead with violet eyes who was holding a baby, although all you could see was a shock of bright blond hair. "There we are. Dad, Mom and me. This was just before Mom... left... She left the hospital soon after Dad left to seal Kyuubi. She died on the front lines of blood loss."

Hope looked at it and said, "They look nice. I'm sure they really cared about you." He then cocked his head, "We had a picture like that in our living room. I think..." He fumbled into his pocket, "Yeah, it's still here." He took out a picture of his own and held it up next to Naruto's.

In Hope's picture, he stood between two adults. The male was tall with neatly groomed brown hair and sharp facial features, and a pair of rectangular glasses was cocked on his nose bridge. The woman was on the shorter side, with a soft face, silver hair, and pretty green eyes. It was obvious where Hope had gotten his looks from. Hope didn't look to happy in the middle though, even leaning a little bit away from his dad and had a melancholy look on his face.

Hope pointed to the woman, "That's my mother Nora. She and I got stuck in the Purge and she was murdered while she was trying to get us out.", Hope moved his finger to his dad, "That's my dad. He never really listened to what I had to say, but we promised after I had come home alone and cursed that we'd try and fix that when I come home again."

"Must have been nice, your mother. Yoshino-sama was a good substitute, but she understood I had to keep up the image of the lonely child for Sandaime. But once I was home... what she said I had to do happened.", Naruto said, each word bringing back memories of himself and Shikamaru wrestling on this very hill.

"What was that?", Hope asked. "Huh?", Naruto asked, clearly confused by Hope's question. "What did she say that you had to do?", Hope clarified himself. "She made me wash up, play shougi with Shika every day, and more often than not, she'd pick me up and make me cook with her. But then again, I didn't care, cause she and Shikaku-san told me they loved me quite often.", Naruto said, smiling.

"My only regret is that they couldn't adopt me. Those slimy bastards on the council need to take those sticks out of their asses." "Trust me, our government the Sanctum is right in front of them in that line.", Hope spat at the mention of the people who ordered his mother's death. Then he cocked his head, "You think I'd be able to stay here too if I could cook for them?.."

"I dunno, I think Yoshino-san would be fine, but I was thinking of going back to the apartment soon. There's still a big-ass hole in the wall, and part of the roof's gone, but we'll be fine, ne? Unless you'd rather we be here.", Naruto said, "I don't want them to get hurt if Akatsuki comes after me, just like I don't want you hurt either. You'd be safer here." Hope became uneasy, "Well, if you're not going to stay then I won't either. But I'll repay the Naras somehow." "We both will.", Naruto said, "Now we better go in, if we want any food. Shika doesn't look like much, but he eats like a pig."

"Yeah.", Hope then took off running, "I'll beat you there!" "Really? Hirashin no Jutsu!", Naruto yelled and teleported right into the kitchen, "I win!" Hope ran in and whined, "Aw... that's no fair!" "Hell, my dad left a legacy, I might as well use it!", Naruto said, laughing. Hope stuck his tongue out at him.

"So, Hope. What's your family like?", Yoshino asked. "They're okay. You have to get along with your parents you know.", he gave a quick side look to Naruto. Naruto winked back at him.

Hope watched as he was given a plate of noodles and some chopsticks. He picked up one of the noodles in front of him and asked, "What's this?" "Ramen. According to some, my favorite food.", Naruto said, chuckling, "The only ramen better than this is at Ichiraku's. I should take you there tomorrow." "Okay.", Hope said as he tried it, "Yeah, it's good. But I would expect the best from the Naras right?"

"You would.", Naruto started, "But they don't like to proclaim their greatness. That's left to the Hyuugas and Uchihas, whose idea of friendship is competing to see who's stick up their ass is bigger." "Ah okay.", Hope said, "So there's a lot of clans around here huh?" "Yeah... tons! Mine'll get reinstated once I turn eighteen." Naruto said.

"Does that mean you have to be married to Hinata by the time you're eighteen?", Hope was confused. "Ummmm... Err...", Naruto said, "Who said I was marrying Hinata?" "Didn't your friend Sakura say that?", Hope was really confused. "Noooo... She said I liked Nata-chan, which I'm not really sure about. I mean, I can classify familial interaction, and sibling interaction, but I'm not really sure about love as a whole, ya know?", Naruto said. "I just thought that by the way you talked about her so fondly and then what everyone was saying that you two were together...", Hope still sounded a bit confused.

"Nah. She's been my friend for almost as long as Shika. She's told me she loves me in a different way on several occasions, but everyone says the reason we aren't together cause I don't notice. The girl's fainting all over the place, I have to notice eventually, right?", Naruto said, a bit confused himself, "I don't think of her like a sister, but I'm not sure if that is love." "Okay.", Hope decided he didn't understand Naruto's brand of love and he still hadn't figured out his completely either so he let it go.

"Naruto, could you... describe your feelings for Hinata? Please?", Yoshino asked, making the puppy eyes at her (all but legally) adopted son. "Uh... well... um... I like her and all, and I think seeing her outside of missions'd be fun, but I really don't want to go talk to Hiashi-sama (A/N: D: Read: Goatlike-manbitch-who-is-a-horrible-parent-sama) about anything. He's... not the best person to me, if you catch my drift.", Naruto said, through a mouthful of ramen.

Hope played with his food as he said sheepishly, "Well... if he's anything like my dad I think you should at least try. You keep Hinata safe after all, I'd think he'd appreciate that." "Yeah... I guess after this whole thing blows over... or next week... whichever comes... next... last.. whatever", Naruto said. Hope turned to Asuka, "I think we should make him go see them sooner than that right?" "No we shouldn't.", Naruto said, "He's not going to go sooner than that, even if you push him all the way there."

"As long as Naruto isn't going anywhere, then we're okay.", Snow's gaudy voice entered the room as he came in. "Hey, Snow, glad to see ya.", Naruto said, finishing up his dinner. Hope hopped up from his seat, "You catch Light?"

Snow hesitated, "Ehh... she got away. You know Light she's not exactly the one to sit still.", Snow half-heartedly chortled as he filled the bad news silence with a pat to Hope's shoulder. "So... your reason for being here is...?", Naruto asked.

"Na... Na.. Naruto-kuun?", Hinata asked. Naruto nodded in her direction, and put the plate in the sink before sitting back down. "You know, Hinata, little Naru-Naru here, told me something interesting about how he feels about you just a couple minutes ago, right?", Yoshino said, gleefully staring at her younger son (for all it was worth). "Kaa-san, just.. don't.. go there.", Naruto said, turning bright red all the while. "Hey, Nata nee-chan and Naru nii-chan look like each other now!", Asuka yelled. Hope hid his pleased smile, he knew he was right.

Vanille flounced into the room, "Kiba says you know about seals right Naruto?" "Yeah... and I can't unseal you guys yet... I'm about a quarter way in though...", Naruto said.

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU INJURE- Oh! Hey, dude! You feeling better?", Kiba said, embarrassed. Vanille giggled at Kiba's episode. "You got hurt earlier?", Yoshino asked, anger evident from her voice. Hope put an arm to the back of his neck and slowly stepped away from Naruto and towards Snow. "Uhhhhh... Ummmmm... Not really?", Naruto tried, turning the puppy dog eyes technique against it's master.

"Yeah, he's okay.", Snow said, "We just need to borrow him for a little bit." Hope's eyebrows furrowed in worry, "Is Light okay?" "Doesn't work on me, young man! I will beat you into the ground... wait... You were hurt?", Yoshino asked. "My little boy was attacked?", she said, hugging Naruto close to her. "Actually Hope was-", Snow began only to be silenced by Hope's rapid elbow prod. "Err... Kaa-san, I'm fine...", Naruto said, wriggling out of her arms, "Too much physical contact in one day. Let's go, Snow. Hope, come on."

As they began to walk out, Hope said, "Wait... where are we even going?" "To find Light.", Naruto said, "Snow, I have a sealing jutsu I can use to put her into a scroll, however that means that one of us has to carry the scroll around. I can unseal and/or reseal her if needed." Snow pointed to himself, "Yeah, I'll carry it around. I'll put her next to Serah." "All right. Now that we've got a volunteer, and the scroll's prepped, we can go.", Naruto said.

Hope asked Kiba, "Where is Light though?" "We've located her with Shino's help. He's trying to hold her off.", Kiba replied, "Naruto, it's Training Ground 44." No one was expecting the rather Sasuke like smirk to cross the boy's face.

"Finally, a challenge. Let's go."

* * *

Fang stood on a tree branch, analyzing the dark forest floor. The Cie'th had grown quiet and was aimlessly wandering around, Fang staying above it. She narrowed her eyes as the Cie'th almost ran into a tree then stumbled back and almost tripped. "Can't get much worse than this.", Fang sighed to herself. "Really now? Because I think killing the person is worse.", a voice came from next to her.

Fang sliced her lance through the air only to see Sasuke swiftly dodge to the side. "The hell do you want?", Fang snarled quietly. "Nothing. I just wish to speak to a female with a brain. They're quite hard to find around here. You have my fangirls, Neji's fangirls, and then there's Hinata, who lusts after the dobe.", Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Why follow me out here then? Something eating at you that bad?", she lowered her lance. "Nah. Just wanted to talk. For no reason... Do you like the dobe?", Sasuke asked. Fang ran a hand though her hair and watched as she did it, "He's a comrade. Why do you ask?", she gave him a mischievous look as the last strands of her hair slipped from her fingers. "Just asking.", Sasuke said.

Fang snit and walked toward him, when she got close she lifted his chin up with her hand to meet her eyes, "Listen, I've got a Cie'th to track so unless you tell me now, you're going to get left behind."

Sasuke kept quiet, just glaring at Fang. She huffed and threw his chin away, looking back at the forest floor. "Damnit.", she swore, turning angrily back to Sasuke, "I've lost her." She flicked her head, "You're coming with me. Stay quiet."

"And if I don't?", he asked, smirking. "You'll end up like your brother and his partner.", she smirked back.

"There's no way I could end up like him.", he said, scoffing. "There is a way if we don't find Light. Hurry up.", she leapt to the next few tree branches with impressive speed. He upped his speed in order to be able to walk by her side, "Che. You don't have to tell me twice."

"What was with you and your brother anyway?", Fang whispered as she stopped a little ways up and analyzed the area. "He killed our entire family. Even though they were planning to destroy the village, destroying them was a bit much. He deserved to die for taking Mom and Dad away from me.", Sasuke said, speaking in unusually long sentences.

She scoffed, "Heh. I thought the same thing about Cocoon. I dedicated my life to taking down that floating nest of vipers. All it did was put people I care about in grave danger. So, what did you learn after you killed him?"

"Nothing. He gave me a... present of sorts... before leaving, damn him.", he said, lips curling upward. "Yeah, that tends to happen.", she sneered at the brand on her arm, "But now, I think we've learned there's more important things to care about. Getting out of the mess we put ourselves in and atoning for everything we did to those we care about."

"He gave me the memories of the Uchiha clan, from the very beginning. He got them from the leader of Akatsuki, and he gave it to me... and told me to be a good boy.", Sasuke said and chuckled at the last part.

"Were they good memories?", Fang asked, curiously looking at him instead of scanning the area. "It depends. The massacre happened again, but from my brother's viewpoint, and there was the whole Uchiha-Senju War. But there were some good ones, like Sei jii-chan admitting the dobe to the hospital after he found them on the street, and yelling at Dad not to kill anyone unneeded. But then, Dad wanted to rule Konoha way too much.", Sasuke said.

"Huh. Must be nice to know what family is like now.", she said, turning back to look at the scene again. "Nah. I hate Itachi less, now that I know what they were really planning to do. He definitely wasn't stepping over the line at all. He could have kept the people who weren't involved, or trying to stop it, like the little kids, Mom... and Sei jii-chan alive, right?", he said, looking at her.

For a moment, the scared seven year old was visible, but as quickly as he came, he disappeared. Fang snickered, knowing that look from all her time with Vanille. "You wouldn't be the person you are today if he did.", she concluded.

"That's true.", he conceded. "What are you going to do with your life now?", she asked. "I dunno. Find someone, settle down, revive the clan and make sure we don't turn seditionist again?", he said. "Good answer.", she grinned.

"Of course, the council won't think twice about executing everyone again. I don't want to be known for being involved in the First and Second Uchiha Massacres.", he said with a wry snort. "Of course.", she affirmed. She then analyzed the area again. There was a moment of silence, the kind that is foreboding.

"It's too quiet.", Fang's whisper was grave and low. "Aah. It is.", Sasuke said, scanning the area as she did.

"Do you hear any Cie'th screeches?", she whispered as she strained her ears to hear. "Do I hear any what?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"KEEEEEEEYAAAAAAH!"

Fang covered her ears as the shriek echoed throughout the trees, "THAT!" "Oh yeah. I heard it just now.", Sasuke deadpanned.

"It's coming from that way.", Fang pointed in a westerly direction, "Let's go!" "Ok."

Fang stopped on a large branch and looked down. Sure enough, the Cie'th was scrambling around a tree. "See that?", she flicked her head to the Cie'th, "Think we can catch it?" "Probably. Depends on how fast it is.", he said. "Shit, shit, shit, they're gonna get the dobe to come seal it. Why does he get the spotlight all the time now?", he thought.

Fang looked back, "It's not too fast... but..." She examined it closer. The Cie'th's movements were quicker than normal and it was darting crazily left to right. Like it was trying to get away from something...

"Sasuke, what kind of things are usually found in here?", Fang asked, getting down on her stomach to hide in the shadows while she watched the Cie'th scramble away. "Like... Orochimaru's animal experiments, foreign ninjas, asylum escapees, Naruto, vicious monsters, etc.", he got down too. "What kinds of things look like that?", she pointed to flashes of black that were running after the Cie'th.

"I'd guess Orochimaru's experiments. But that flash of yellow after them is... what the f*** are you doing, Naruto?", Sasuke yelled, the pulsating vein on his forehead revealing his anger at the poor little boy. "Let's move!", Fang yelled as she took off after Naruto, leaving Sasuke in her dust. Sasuke scoffed, "The dobe's gonna die. YES."

"Oh hi there!", Vanille said to Sasuke as she passed, "Fang went that way right?" "Uh huh.", Sasuke said. "Good! Thankies!", Vanille yelled back with a wave as she disappeared into the trees. "Come on, you're Naruto's friend right?", Snow popped out behind Sasuke, "You can be a hero too."

"Che. The dobe's friend? If they had heard what that idiot said to me before I left, they wouldn't be so quick to assume that.", Sasuke thought.

* * *

*FLASHBACK INSIDE THE TORMENTED RECESSES OF UCHIHA SASUKE'S MIND*

Sasuke laid the unconscious body of Sakura on the bench and turned to leave. "You're leaving, aren't you?" A familiar, yet unplaceable voice said from behind him. Sasuke turned to see a boy who looked vaguely like Naruto, but acted nothing like the hyperactive idiot he had come to know.

"Who are you?", he asked.

"I am the real Uzumaki Naruto, the boy you all would have met if you cared enough. Of course, you cared the least. Even Neji said Hinata once in awhile. So I have absolutely no qualms letting you leave.", Naruto said, staring at Sasuke intently.

"Isn't it your duty as a ninja to stop me?", Sasuke asked, giving him the once over.

"My duty as a ninja is strictly limited to the orders of the Hokage, and taking shit from the villagers. I don't take shit from anyone else.", Naruto said, "Is there any chance of you staying?"

"No.", Sasuke replied curtly, "Are you doing this for Sakura?" "No. I'm doing this for Team 7, no matter how much I despise the two of you. And that asshole who teaches you and Sakura.", Naruto said.

Sasuke scoffed, "Like a demon like you could care. I'm leaving." The last thing he saw as he left was Naruto picking up Sakura's unconscious body and speeding toward the hospital.

*END OF THE FLASHBACK FROM HELL*

* * *

Sasuke was too busying flashing back that he didn't notice until now Snow was carrying him over his shoulder and running towards the others, "Well, whatever you're thinking about must be important if you're not going to help us!" "Whaaaaat?", Sasuke groaned, tired from the aftereffects of intense flashing back. Snow dropped Sasuke on to the floor, "Come on, the others are waiting!" "Oh. Sorry. Flashback.", Sasuke said, and ran past Snow in the direction he indicated.

Vanille stopped next to Kiba, who had stopped suddenly, "Something wrong?"

"Nah. I hear Uchiha and Snow, and screams coming from near them. Sorry. Heightened senses are a pain sometimes.", Kiba said. (Somewhere in the Forest of Death, Naruto coughed and said, "Hell yes, bitch!") "I see. Cie'th screams do hurt!", she tugged on his sleeve, "But that means Light's nearby! Let's go get her!"

Naruto sighed. It had been thirty or forty years since that damn Orochimaru left Konoha, but those stiffs on the council refused to "clean up" the mess of animal experiments he had left behind in the Forest of Death, claiming it was "good practice" for whomsoever trains in there. Yeah. Right. Just another horribly concealed plan to get him killed. "Those bastards would sell their mothers to the Akatsuki.", he thought darkly, and continued after the shambling corpse-like monster that had once been someone he called friend.

Hope ran as fast as he could to keep up with Naruto. "What are those things?", he asked in fright as he watched the mutant animal-like things chase after Light in front of him. "Mutants.", Naruto replied, resorting to monosyllabic conversation in order to keep his emotions from spiraling out of control. If that happened, everyone would get hurt again. He couldn't afford to do that.

Hope pulled out his boomerang and flung it at the closest mutant. It hit in in the head, causing the thing to slow down and veer away from Light. Unfortunately, it also turned toward its attacker.

Hope caught his boomerang and quickly cast a Blizzard spell on the oncoming mutant to slow it down. "Hope, don't attack them. We don't know what Orochimaru made them into. If you don't attack them they'll leave you alone.", Naruto said. "But if they get to Light, she won't be able to hold them off!", Hope protested, casting a Thunder spell to shock the mutant still.

"They won't attack her. They're after me and Sasuke. Orochimaru wants me for experiments and Sasuke back.", Naruto said. "Their vision is worse than an 80 year old man, so if we go past quietly, they won't notice. Come on!", Naruto said, voice barely raising over a whisper. Hope hesitated but quickly followed after Naruto.

Hope watched from the shadows with Naruto as the mutants ran after Light, "If they're after you and Sasuke, why are they chasing Light?" "They are probably hungry.", Naruto said, offhandedly. Hope huffed angrily, "Well, she's not some prey to be eaten if I have anything to say about it!" Hope ran out of the shadows and cast a Thundaga on all the oncoming mutants.

"Hope...", Naruto sighed. The boy was much like the alternate in that matter... always rushing into things without thinking. Thankfully he was able to think behind the facade, turning the tide for "himself" while others wondered why and how it had happened. But Hope didn't have that.

Hope cast a few spells in sequence until he had to take a breather, using that time to dodge as best as he could. "Fuuton: Uzumaki-shi no!", Naruto yelled, and spiraling wind blades appeared behind him pinning some unfortunate animals to trees, while robbing some others of their lives at first contact. "Neat, huh?", he asked Hope while running after Light, "Created it myself."

"Yeah, well, you haven't seen what I can do either!", Hope challenged playfully. He cast an Aeroga, causing the tornado to unleash fury on the mutants, killing most of the rest of them. He smirked to Naruto, "How was that?"

"Quite nice. You could beat most of the Genin here. I bet I could give ya a run for your money though, ne, Hope?", Naruto answered back quickly, with a wit born of life on the streets. Hope answered back, "Honestly, I think you and Light are way too strong for me!"

"You'll help me though right? You're my new partner!", Hope declared.

"Sounds nice, kid. We gotta get to Light soon though or...", he paused and a Cie'th scream rang out, causing Naruto to fall over clutching his head. Hope covered his own ears and helped Naruto up, "Argh, let's go!" "Sorry. Kitsune senses suck sometimes. Tracking is good, but not always.", Naruto said, grinning. Hope nodded, "It's okay, Cie'th screeches hurt. I understand. Let's try and hurry!"

"All right... partner."

When they arrived on the scene, the biggest mutant so far was attacking Light. She was slammed into a tree, letting out more deathly screams. Hope struggled to take his hands off his ears from the continuous screaming, "Argh... Light..!"

Naruto used the same wind justu from before, but his blades popped out of existence as soon as he made them. "Dammit. Low on energy again. Sage mode time!", Naruto said, cloning himself and sending it out to meditate.

Hope snapped out his boomerang and hit the thing on the head, "Over here, ugly!" He then ran away from Naruto and Light, the thing chasing after him. "Hope...", Naruto groaned.

Hope led it away until he almost ran into a rock wall. He looked up and froze when he saw that it was really tall. He turned and the mutant rampaged straight for him.

He was cornered.

Hope barely dodged to the right as the mutant clawed into the stone, getting stuck for the moment. He took the opportunity to cast a Blizzaga over it to freeze it down.

"Ooh... enemy ninja time!", Naruto said, eyes lighting up at the sight of an advancing Rock ninja, "Human blood! YAY!" Hope could tell what Tsunade meant by mentally unstable now, although he was blissfully ignorant before. "Sir, I think you're in the wrong story.", he said, laughing nervously. "You know what, I think you're right, kid.", the Rock ninja said and disappeared. "No blood?", Naruto whined, making puppy eyes back at Hope. "We'll let you kill in a crazy rampage later, but for right now, I need help so...", Hope said, pointing at the mutant over his shoulder. "All right!", Naruto said. (A/N: M: Datte wanted an insane Naru moment. Don't ask me XD)

Hope sighed in relief as the mutant stayed still and began to slowly walk away. Well, until a beastly roar and a deafening shattering sound came from behind him. He blindly threw his boomerang as he turned back, the weapon getting deflected by the mutant's strong swing of an arm and getting stuck into a tree. The thing punched out with the other arm, Hope barely rolling underneath it.

He yanked at his boomerang in the tree, but it was stuck. His eyes widened in fear as the mutant knocked the tree down from behind him. He barely had time to pull a tiny synergy shield to keep from being crushed. He screamed as the shield broke like glass under the pressure of another blow, the mutant slashing him across the back and sending him rolling across the floor.

He started to get up when the thing stood over him again. His pupils shrank as it raised both of its large fists up, ready to pound into him with extreme strength. He poured out more synergy, trying to soften the blow as best as he could.

"DIIIIIE!", Naruto yelled, "Fuuinjutsu: Release: Kaze no kiken na ken no Jutsu!". "Umm... Naruto? That looks like normal sword. Why'd you call it a dangerous sword?", Hope asked. "Cause I felt like it.", Naruto said and channeled chakra into the weapon, causing a gigantic sheet of wind to rush through the mutant, creating gashes on its skin and draining blood from it.

Hope got up, dissolving his shield and brushing himself off. "Thanks...", Hope murmured as he got up, a little shaken by the blows he had received. "Welcome.", Naruto replied, back to monosyllabic conversation, "Sorry for the bloodlust earlier. I do that sometimes." Hope sighed, "It's fine, I understand. Now, let's go see if we can get Light." "Aah. Let's go.", Naruto said and ran.

When they came back, Vanille, Kiba, Hinata, Sasuke, Snow, and Fang were holding the Cie'th back. Vanille had her rod's lines bound around Light, Fang cast enough debilitating magic to slow her down, and Snow used his brute force to make sure she stayed back.

Naruto pulled out the scroll and made an X in the air with this index fingers. He bit his thumbs simultaneously and drew an odd looking character on the plain scroll, "Namikaze no Fuuinjutsu: Kashi Joutai!"

The Cie'th was sucked into the blue pillar of energy that formed around the scroll. Within a minute, the Cie'th was gone, and a sweating Naruto stood where he had before.

His eyes widened for a second, and everyone thought he was about to go unconscious again, but then he smiled. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: Release. Nothing like killing off a clone for an energy boost.", he said calmly and began walking out of the forest.

Vanille recoiled her lines, "Agh... thank goodness. She's hard to hold on to." Fang ran up to her, "You're okay Vanille?" Vanille nodded, "Yep! Kiba kept me safe!"

Hope hurried after Naruto, "We going back home now?" Snow wasn't very far behind, "So hey, I'll take that scroll off your hands." "Yeah.", Naruto said, handing over the scroll then turning to Hope, "Oi, Partner, we leaving now or do you wanna fight random mutants for awhile?" Hope rubbed his eyes with his fists, "Nah, I'm tired. And you're going to need rest too."

"I guess so. Even with the extra boost, we're barely gonna get back to the Naras' awake. Honestly, I'm more scared about what happens when we get back. Kaa-san and Asuka are gonna kill us for being out this late. But remember, the villagers normally wait out at night, so don't stay too close. Ok, partner?", Naruto said, grinning. "I guess.", Hope was too tired to argue and already walking like a Cie'th zombie. "Aww, look at you. You're practically asleep. Let's go.", Naruto grabbed Hope by the arm and ran across the rooftops to the Nara compound, Hope flying in the slipstream he left behind.

Snow chuckled at them and called out, "Night you two! Be safe!" Snow tucked the scroll in his coat, slipping it next to Serah's Tear with a smile.

"Kay. Vanille, Fang, you guys are still bunking at my place, right?", Kiba asked, rubbing his eyes. Vanille yawned, "Mhmm..." Fang chuckled, "Yeah, but I'll be back a little later. I have something I have to go do." Vanille grabbed Fang's wrist and said sleepily, "Come back safe again." Fang nodded, "I will." She then put Vanille's hands in Kiba's, "Take care of her again yeah? I'm putting a lot of trust in you." She winked at him.

"I think I'm gonna turn in for the night now. C'mon Vanille. And Fang, when you come, if you need directions, just ask for the Inuzukas. Everyone knows where we are.", Kiba said. Fang nodded then saluted them, "See ya later then. Night you two." She took off into the forest, after someone who had left seemingly unnoticed.

Vanille was walking slowly with Kiba when she said, "You know, this is really nice." "What?", Kiba asked, scratching the back of his head. She played with her fingers nervously, "Well... walking under the stars with a good friend who's really nice and cool..."

"Cool? Me? Hehehehe... thanks. I think this is nice too. Ya know, my mom said something like 'If two people in love wish on the same star, their wishes will both come true' or somethin'. Wanna try it out?", he asked, innocently oblivious of the part involving being in love. She looked at him with a little bit of happy awe then up at the night sky, "Yeah, I'd like that..."

She scanned the sky, stars reflecting in her clear green eyes, "Which one is ours then?" "The bright one, over there.", he said, pointing directly to Sirius, "One... two... three!"

Kiba closed his eyes and made his wish. Vanille watched him then quickly did the same, clasping her hands together.

After a long pause, Vanille opened one of her eyes, "You done?" "Yeah. C'mon, let's go home.", Kiba said, reaching for her hand. She smiled and took his hand, "Okay. I hope I get along well with your family." "Hehehe, Mom's the one you have to worry about. She'll ask me if you're my girlfrie- wait... that was a date earlier, right?", he asked, turning around suddenly.

She nodded, slightly blushing, "I'd like to think so." "So... you'd technically be my girlfriend, right?", he asked, winking at her, "Only if it's fine with you and everyone else..."

Vanille bit her lip for a second but then nodded, "Okay. I'll be your girlfriend." She took both of his hands and completely turned towards him and looked him straight in the eye. "I like you. Does that work?", she cocked her head playfully.

"Hmm... It should. I like you a lot.", Kiba purred, and impulsively kissed her. Then he fumbled back and stammered, "Sorry. Animalistic urges. Stupid Akamaru."

Vanille froze for a second in surprise then admitted, "No... I like it." She eased back towards him, placing her lips gently on his again.

Jiraiya, hiding deep in the bushes, dropped his binoculars from his eyes. "These two just inspired the next love scene in the new Icha Icha book... Icha Icha Foreigner!"

"Did you hear that?", Kiba asked, pulling away, "It sounds like... PERVERT ALERT."

Kiba chased the old man far away from his Vanille, wait, no, Vanille quite quickly.

She giggled, gently touching her lips as she did. He tasted sweet and she liked it. She blushed at the thought.

Kiba ran toward her, "Goddamn pervert. Trying to spy on us. But you're a real good kisser if that makes you feel better." "It does.", Vanille blushed, "And you are too."

"Really?", Kiba asked, putting a hand on his hip, "If I'm this good with no experience, think about how good another one'll be, huh?" Vanille shied, looking at the ground, "Can't wait for that one."

Kiba put his hand in hers, "It's getting dark, let's get home, ne?" Vanille nodded sheepishly, "Mhm..." She put her head on his shoulder as they walked.


End file.
